August 7, 2013

Magnetic switching simplified



An international team of researchers has described a new physical effect that could be used to develop more efficient magnetic chips for information processing. The quantum mechanical effect makes it easier to produce spin-polarized currents necessary for the switching of magnetically stored information. The research findings were published online on 28 July in the high-impact journal Nature Nanotechnology ("Symmetry and magnitude of spin–orbit torques in ferromagnetic heterostructures").