Researchers from UCLA, MIT, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Tokyo are studying using magnons, ripples in magnetic fields, for ultrafast computing. The team has successfully caused two types of magnons to interact nonlinearly, a crucial step towards developing magnonic computers. The research, led by UCLA’s Prineha Narang, uses terahertz laser technology to manipulate the magnons. The team applied laser pulses to a plate made from a yttrium alloy, causing the magnons to interact and produce nonlinear responses. This could lead to faster and more stable digital technologies.
Magnons: The Future of Ultrafast Computing
The future of computing may lie in the ripples of magnetic fields, known as magnons. These magnons could potentially be used to encode and process information, resulting in devices with memory speeds in the billionths of a second range. This concept is a significant departure from conventional digital technologies, where electricity forms the basis for electronics.
Magnonic systems are expected to outpace current technologies, offering faster speeds for devices ranging from laptops and smartphones to telecommunications. In the realm of quantum computing, the use of magnons could lead to not only quicker speeds but also more stable devices.
Advancements in Magnonic Research
A recent study published in Nature Physics reports an early-stage discovery that could pave the way for the development of magnonic computers. The researchers created two distinct types of ripples in the magnetic field of a thin alloy plate, measured the results, and found that the magnons interacted nonlinearly. This nonlinearity, where output is not directly proportional to input, is a crucial requirement for any computing application.
Most research in this area has focused on one type of magnon at a time under relatively stable conditions known as equilibrium. However, the manipulation of magnons, as demonstrated in these studies, pushes the system out of equilibrium.
Multi-Institution Collaboration on Magnonics
This research is part of a multi-year collaboration involving theorists and experimentalists from various fields of science and engineering. The project, supported by government and private grantors, brings together researchers from UCLA, MIT, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Tokyo in Japan.
The collaboration aims to spur progress in nonequilibrium physics, with the recent study significantly advancing the understanding of nonequilibrium and nonlinear phenomena. The research could be a step towards computer memory using ultrafast phenomena that occur on the order of billionths of a second.
Terahertz Laser Technology in Magnonics
A key technology behind these findings is an advanced technique for adding energy to and evaluating samples using lasers with frequencies in the terahertz range. This range sits between the wavelengths of microwave and infrared radiation. The method, borrowed from chemistry and medical imaging, is rarely applied to study magnetic fields.
Using terahertz lasers suggests potential synergy with a technology growing in maturity. The researchers applied laser pulses to a 2-millimeter-thick plate made from a carefully chosen alloy containing yttrium, a metal found in LEDs and radar technology. In some experiments, a second terahertz laser was used in a coordinated way that paradoxically added energy but helped stabilize samples.
Nonlinear Interaction of Magnons
The researchers could drive either type of magnon individually or both simultaneously by rotating the sample to certain angles relative to the lasers. They were able to measure the interactions between the two types and found that they could cause nonlinear responses.
This nonlinear interaction is crucial for any application based on signal processing. Mixing signals in this way could allow the conversion between different magnetic inputs and outputs, which is necessary for a device that relies on manipulating information magnetically.