New method for using spin waves in magnetic materials

Smaller, faster, more energy-efficient - this is the goal that developers of electronic devices have been working towards for years. In order to be able to miniaturize individual components of mobile phones or computers for example, magnetic waves are currently regarded as promising alternatives to conventional data transmission functioning by means of electric currents. The reason: As chips become smaller and smaller, electrical data transmission at some point reaches its limits, because electrons that are very close to each other give off a lot of heat - which can lead to a disruption of physical processes. High-frequency magnetic waves, by contrast, can propagate in even the smallest nanostructures and thus transmit and process information. The physical basis for this is the so-called spin of electrons in the magnetic material, which can be simplified as a rotation of the electron around its own axis. However, spin waves in microelectronics have so far only been of limited use, due to the so-called damping, which acts on the spin waves and weakens them. Physicists at the University of Münster (Institute for Applied Physics, Research Group Demokritov) have now developed a new approach that eliminates unwanted damping and makes it easier to use spin waves.