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Laser induced magnetic generation of non-magnetic materials at room temperature helps to develop faster and more energy-efficient information transmission and storage technologies

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2024-06-03 14:38:18
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Researchers from the University of Stockholm in Sweden, the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, and the University of Cafoscari in Venice, Italy have successfully demonstrated for the first time how lasers induce quantum behavior at room temperature and make non-magnetic materials magnetic. This breakthrough is expected to pave the way for faster and more energy-efficient computers, information transmission, and data storage. The study was published in the latest issue of the journal Nature.

The research team placed a quantum material strontium titanate in a short and intense laser beam with special wavelength and polarization, generating induced magnetism. This method allows light to move atoms and electrons in the material in a circular motion, generating an electric current and making it magnetic like a refrigerator magnet.

Researchers have achieved this by developing a new far-infrared light source. This light source has polarization in the shape of a bottle opener. This is the first time they have been able to induce and clearly see how materials become magnetic at room temperature in an experiment.

Magnets are usually made of metal, and new methods allow for the use of many insulators to manufacture magnetic materials. This breakthrough is expected to be widely applied in various information technologies, opening the door to the development of ultrafast magnetic switches, information transmission and data storage, as well as faster and more energy-efficient computers.

The research results have been replicated in several other laboratories. A paper in the same issue of Nature suggests that this method can be used to write and store magnetic information, opening a new chapter in the design of new materials using light.

The researchers are in the laboratory of Stockholm University. Image source: Magnus Bergstrom/Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation

Source: Science and Technology Daily

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