Researchers have developed a method for creating and controlling quick-moving waves in magnetic fields they say could improve communication and information processing in computer chips and other electronic devices.
Created by scientists in the Department of Physics at New York University, the new technique relies on “spin waves,” waves that move in magnetic materials similar to waves moving on the surface of an ocean. Like electromagnetic waves, spin waves can be used to transfer energy and information between two points, the researchers say.
“Spin waves hold tremendous promise in improving the functionality of a range of technologies,” Andrew Kent, a professor in NYU’s Department of Physics and one of the paper’s co-authors, said. “Our results mark another vital step in harnessing a resource that is faster and more energy efficient that what we rely on today.”
Electromagnetic waves in antennas can be converted into spin waves, say the researchers, but these spin waves have a long wavelength and propagate slowly, limiting their speed and range. Short-wavelength spin waves, in contrast, can travel faster and more efficiently over greater distances—but previous research has encountered problems in creating such spin waves.
Now, the NYU research team has overcome this problem through the development of spin torque nano-oscillators—tiny nanoscale devices capable of converting direct current into spin waves—and subsequent demonstration of their ability to direct spin wave energy similar to the way antennas direct electromagnetic waves. The team utilized a method that relies on the control of wave interference to produce specific wave propagation patterns to direct the spin waves to navigate in specific patterns and directions through a magnetic material.
The study’s other authors are Ferran Macià, a research scientist at the University of Barcelona and an NYU post-doctoral fellow at the time of the study, and Frank Hoppensteadt, a professor emeritus at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Their research is published in the journal Nanotechnology.
