New Fastest-Possible Electrical Switch Could Herald Speedy Computing Devices

Want a fast switch? Use magnetite. Scientists have clocked the fastest-possible electrical switching in the naturally magnetic mineral. The findings could have huge implications for driving innovations in the tiny transistors that control the flow of electricity across silicon chips. An optical laser pulse (red streak from upper right) shatters the ordered electronic structure (blue) in an insulating sample of magnetite, switching the material to electrically conducting (red) in one trillionth of a second. (Photo : Greg Stewart/SLAC)

Want a fast switch? Use magnetite. Scientists have clocked the fastest-possible electrical switching in the naturally magnetic mineral. The findings could have huge implications for driving innovations in the tiny transistors that control the flow of electricity across silicon chips. This could lead to faster and more powerful computing devices.

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How did the scientists create this switch? It's all about using lasers. They hit each sample with a visible-light laser, which fragmented the material's electronic structure at an atomic scale. This rearranged it to form non-conducting "islands" surrounded by electronically conducting regions, which began to form just trillionths of a second after a laser pulse struck a sample. This laser blast was then followed by an ultrabright, ultrashort X-ray pulse that allowed the scientists to study the timing and details of changes in the sample that was excited by the initial laser strike.

So what did researchers find? It takes only one trillionth of a second, a pico second, to flip the on-off electrical switch in samples of magnetite. That's thousands of times faster than in transistors that are currently being used.

"This breakthrough research reveals for the first time the 'speed limit' for electrical switching in this material," said Roopali Kukreja, a materials science researcher at Stanford University, in a news release.

It may take a while for practical applications, though. The magnetite had to be cooled to minus 190 degrees Celsius to lock in its electrical charge. That means that scientists need to find out a way to warm things up to room temperature. Currently, the researchers plan to identify exotic compounds and test new techniques to induce the twitching and tap into other properties that are superior to modern-day silicon transistors. They've already conducted follow-up studies that focus on a hybrid material that exhibits similar ultrafast switching properties at near room temperatures; this could make it a prime candidate for commercial use.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Materials.

TagsMaterials Science, Femtosecond