Magnet research takes giant leap

PhysOrg ^ | 04/10/2020 | University of Central Florida

[aimhigh]

Researchers pushing the limits of magnets as a means to create faster electronics published their proof of concept findings today, April 10, in the journal Science. . . . The team exploring methods for creating machines that operate at trillions of cycles per second includes the University of California, Santa Cruz and Riverside, Ohio State University, Oakland University (Michigan) and New York University, among others.

Today's computers rely on ferromagnets (the same kind that stick to your refrigerator) to align the binary 1s and 0s that process and store information. Anti-ferromagnets are much more powerful, but their natural state, displaying no net measurable magnetization, makes it difficult to harness their power.

The laboratory of Enrique del Barco, Ph.D., . . are successfully overcoming that natural resistance using electrical currents passed through anti-ferromagnets on the nanoscale. The results are groundbreaking because they represent proof of concept showing that antiferromagnetic devices can operate on the terahertz level—or calculations completed in a trillionth of a second. Not only does that hold potential for everything from guidance systems to communications, but it brings devices closer to mimicking the way the brain operates.

[MrChips]

Why can’t we have a magnet train like they have in Japan?

[ClearCase_guy]

My grandfather graduated from Princeton with a degree in finance in 1929 (not the best timing). He went on to a career in banking. Like most college students, he had to take some science classes which did not especially interest him.

In a Physics class, the teacher was discussing magnetism and mentioned that a number of metals had magnetic qualities — nickel and cobalt were two examples. “But there is no metal more attractive than iron” the professor stated.

My grandfather dug out a $20 gold piece and held it up. “Here is metal more attractive”, he said. I was not told the professor’s reaction to this impertinence.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

If you attach them to your fuel line they increase your MPG, so I recall.

[cymbeline]

“I wonder if they realize we don’t use magnetic memory anymore?”

I think there’s a use or intended use for magnetic materials in nonvolatile memory including disk drives.

[Dalberg-Acton]

Political corruption and thievery?

[CJ Wolf]

“Chinese Northeastern University...”

yep. definitely stop now. shouldn’t have started at anytime either.

[CJ Wolf]

and 16k was more then anyone would ever need.

[BereanBrain]

I am a computer dude, got into it in 1978.

I can tell you that 1s and 0s are “brute force”. For example, if you collapse all the processing power on the planet, you might have 1 human brain’s ability.

Thz could help v Ghz, but we STILL don’t know how the magic of encoding in neurons work.

[Tucker39]

This reminds me of the story of a guy named Tate who decided to start manufacturing compasses. But Tate didn’t understand magnetism, so his compasses didn’t point to the north. They pointed any old which way. And that is the origin of the saying, “He who has a Tate’s is lost.” Ain’t eddycation grate?

[rx]

It's a more-than-reasonable question, given the 1965 Nobel Prize winner and physicist, Richard Feynman's non-answer to the question, which he was said to have repeated regularly to his classes, wherein he claimed it was an unknown. In a 1986 interview Feynman said, "The magnetic forces are related to the electrical forces very intimately. That our relationship between the gravity forces and the electrical forces remains unknown, and so on, but I really can't do a good job--any job--of explaining magnetic force in terms of something else that you're more familiar with because I don't understand it in terms of anything else that you're more familiar with."

Ken Wheeler has written what he calls by far and away the most complete book on magnetism ever written, I believe.

He's forthright in his claim to know, very completely, how magnets work. His book, "Uncovering the Secrets of Magnetism" 4th Edition, is free and available on the Internet. See for yourself.

[catnipman]

i bought one of these about 20 years ago from a colleague who had acquired a bunch of 'em and was selling them for fifty bucks each (a very cool piece of history):

[wally_bert]

What about the “bubble generation”?

It didn’t last that long I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEub5U9UeX8

[Bommer]

Yeah but the only problem is eventually you head will get stuck to the refrigerator door.

[GingisK]

Core memories went out a really long time ago. How would anyone claim that ferromagnetics are used for storage? Are they referring to the disk drives, or the RAM? At any rate, disk isn’t part of the computational speed issue.

[SunkenCiv]

Anti-ferromagnets are much more powerful, but their natural state, displaying no net measurable magnetization, makes it difficult to harness their power.

Yeah, and people have coronavirus but have zero symptoms, which is why it's so darned dangerous. :^)

But seriously, there's another team workingon uncle-ferromagnets.

---

· String Theory Ping List ·

---

---

· Join · Bookmark · Topics · Google ·
· View or Post in 'blog · post a topic · subscribe ·

---

[trebb]

They contain little, localized pockets of gravity and anti-gravity...

[Waverunner]

I meant DOH, it’s so obvious when someone else thinks of it first..