AI Insight
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames National Laboratory have discovered a method to control the handedness (chirality) of magnons, which are collective excitations of magnetic moments that propagate as waves through materials. By applying an external magnetic field to alter the material's magnetic state, the team successfully demonstrated the ability to switch magnon behavior. This work represents a new approach to manipulating these quantum magnetic excitations that can serve as information carriers.
Why it matters
This discovery could enable new approaches to processing and transmitting information in quantum computing and quantum information technologies, where magnons offer advantages as information carriers due to their quantum properties. The ability to externally control magnon handedness provides a potential switching mechanism for future spintronic and magnonic devices.
Understand the Science
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Ames National Laboratory have discovered a way to control the handedness of magnons, tiny magnetic waves that can carry information through materials. By changing the material’s magnetic state with an external magnetic field, they were able to switch magnon behavior, a finding with potential applications in quantum information and quantum computing technologies. Their findings are published in Physical Review Letters.
Source: Scientists discover new way to control magnetic waves for future quantum technologies