Lighting up: controlling magnetic materials with light.
A variety of magnetic materials can be controlled using only polarized light, according to new work carried out by an international team of researchers.
The unexpected and so far unexplained discovery shows that the optical phenomenon, which was previously thought to be possible only in ferrimagnets, is actually much more general.
The discovery could potentially have a major impact on data storage, as it could allow magnetic bits to be rapidly switched by optical pulses in state-of-the-art hard drives.
From magnetic tapes to computer hard drives, rewritable data storage has traditionally been achieved using ordering of magnetic domains.
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2014/aug/21/controlling-ferromagnetic-domains-using-light
A variety of magnetic materials can be controlled using only polarized light, according to new work carried out by an international team of researchers.
The unexpected and so far unexplained discovery shows that the optical phenomenon, which was previously thought to be possible only in ferrimagnets, is actually much more general.
The discovery could potentially have a major impact on data storage, as it could allow magnetic bits to be rapidly switched by optical pulses in state-of-the-art hard drives.
From magnetic tapes to computer hard drives, rewritable data storage has traditionally been achieved using ordering of magnetic domains.
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2014/aug/21/controlling-ferromagnetic-domains-using-light
