Scientists measured a key effect of electron spin essential
to engineering the next generation of high-performing digital devices
The evolution of digital electronics is a story of
miniaturization – each generation of circuitry requires less space and energy
to perform the same tasks. But even as high-speed processors move into handheld
smart phones, current data storage technology has a functional limit:
magnetically stored digital information becomes unstable when too tightly
packed. The answer to maintaining the breath-taking pace of our ongoing
computer revolution may be the denser, faster, and smarter technology of
spintronics.