Researchers have developed a new theoretical framework demonstrating how magnetic waves can generate detectable electrical signals, a finding that could help overcome a primary speed limit in modern electronics. The discovery, detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, outlines a method for observing and manipulating these waves, known as magnons, which could serve as the foundation for a new generation of computers that are significantly faster and more energy-efficient than current devices.
Modern computers operate through a constant transfer of information between electric and magnetic systems. Data is stored magnetically on hard drives, but processing and calculations are handled electrically by processors and RAM. This perpetual conversion between magnetic storage and electric processing creates a bottleneck that consumes energy, generates waste heat, and fundamentally limits how fast a computer can operate. The new research from engineers at the University of Delaware suggests a path toward integrating these two domains, using waves of magnetism to carry information in a way that is directly readable by electrical components, potentially removing the bottleneck entirely.
The Promise of Magnonics
The field of magnonics is built on the concept of using a quantum property of electrons called spin. In magnetic materials, the spins of countless electrons are aligned. When one spin is disturbed, it creates a ripple effect through its neighbors, propagating a wave through the material much like a disturbance travels down a stretched slinky. This wave of spin orientation is a magnon. Unlike an electrical current, where charged electrons physically move through a wire and generate heat due to resistance, a magnon transmits information without the movement of any charge. This distinction is crucial, as it means magnonic computing could theoretically operate with far less energy waste and heat production, which are major constraints in designing ever-more-powerful processors and supercomputers.
The goal is to create devices where information flows not through copper wires but through magnon channels. By replacing electron-based systems with spin-waves, computers could be designed to be faster, cooler, and more compact. For data centers and supercomputers that process immense datasets for climate modeling, artificial intelligence, and genomics, this could lead to denser hardware configurations and dramatically higher computational power per watt of energy consumed. The primary challenge, however, has been finding an effective way to detect and control these incredibly subtle magnetic waves.
Antiferromagnets as a High-Speed Medium
While early research focused on ferromagnetic materials like iron, where all electron spins point in the same direction, the new study focused on a different class of materials: antiferromagnets. In antiferromagnetic materials, neighboring electron spins are aligned in opposite directions, alternating up and down throughout the material structure. This alternating arrangement results in a zero net magnetic field, which historically made them seem difficult to harness for technological applications.
However, this unique structure gives them a remarkable advantage. The tightly coupled, alternating spins allow magnons to propagate at terahertz frequencies—trillions of cycles per second. This is roughly 1,000 times faster than the speeds at which magnons travel through ferromagnets, offering a stunningly fast potential data highway. The same property that makes them fast, their zero net spin, also makes the magnons within them notoriously difficult to detect with conventional magnetic sensors. This has been a significant barrier to their practical use, but the University of Delaware team’s work offers a solution.
A Breakthrough in Wave Detection
The theoretical study, led by senior author Matthew Doty of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, used sophisticated computer simulations to model magnon behavior in antiferromagnets. The research, conducted as part of the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Hybrid, Active and Responsive Materials (CHARM), did not just look at the magnetic properties but also investigated how the spin waves might interact with the electrical properties of the material.
From Magnetic Wobble to Electric Signal
The team’s calculations produced a surprising result. They found that as magnons—the collective wobbling of the alternating spins—move through an antiferromagnet, they can induce what is known as an electric polarization. In essence, the wave-like magnetic fluctuation creates a measurable electrical signal within the material. This provides a direct electrical signature for a purely magnetic phenomenon, offering a new way to “see” the elusive waves. “The results predict that we can detect magnons by measuring the electric polarization they create,” Doty stated.
Implications for Future Electronics
This discovery has profound implications beyond simple detection. The ability of a magnon to create an electric field suggests that the reverse is also possible: an external electric field could be used to influence or control the magnon. This establishes a two-way street for communication between the magnetic and electric domains, which is the key to creating a truly integrated logic-memory device. Such a device would blur the lines between processing and storage, allowing for much more efficient computation.
“Even more exciting is the possibility that we could use external electric fields, including those of light, to control the motion of magnons,” Doty explained. The prospect of using light to manipulate these waves opens another door for even faster and more precise control. Future devices could feature magnon channels that transmit data far more rapidly and with less energy loss than is possible today. This would represent a paradigm shift in computer architecture, moving away from systems constrained by the physical movement of electrons and toward a new class of technology based on the near-instantaneous ripple of spin waves. While this research is theoretical, it provides a critical roadmap for experimental physicists and engineers working to build the next generation of high-speed, low-energy computing.
