Jun-Yang Chen and co-workers have created a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) that can be switched by a pulse of light lasting one trillionth of a second, setting a speed record. The magnetic tunnel junction is a device critical to information technology with the termination of Moore’s law, a principle that has ruled the microelectronics industry for five decades.

This advancement holds promise for the development of new, optically controlled, ultrafast magnetic devices collectively called spintronics (electronics that combine optical and magnetic nanotechnologies). These devices could lead to innovations in the storage, processing, and communication of information in the coming decade. An example of such innovation would be the development of a system that like the human brain, can both store and analyze a large amount of data simultaneously.

The details of the device and the tests conducted on it are reported in the paper “All-Optical Switching of Magnetic Tunnel Junctions with Single Subpicosecond Laser Pulses,” published in Physical Review Applied (volume 7, issue 3).

This breakthrough news is also covered by Phys.org, ScienceNewsline, and EE Times Asia.

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