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  • 1 day ago
Engineers at UC San Diego developed a way to write magnetic data with light, a technique that could make storage more than 1,000 times faster than methods using external magnetic fields. By shrinking and reshaping an ultrafast laser beam, the team achieved optical switching in a nine-layer platinum and cobalt structure, exceeding the previous three-layer limit without requiring a specific light polarization. Thicker structures can hold data longer, while smaller beams could pack more data into the same space; the work appears in Nature Communications.
Disclosure: This video contains stock footage and content created or enhanced using AI-assisted tools.
Transcript
00:00A tiny laser beam could make computer memory more than 1,000 times faster.
00:04Today's storage systems record data in tiny magnetic regions as ones and zeros.
00:10Writing new data usually means flipping those regions with an external magnetic field.
00:15That process uses considerable energy and limits speed.
00:19Engineers at UC San Diego used light instead, a technique called optical switching.
00:24They reshaped an ultra-fast laser into a far smaller beam.
00:27Earlier experiments only worked in magnetic structures with three layers or fewer.
00:32The new method worked in a structure with nine alternating layers of platinum and cobalt.
00:37That matters, because thicker structures can help preserve stored data over time.
00:42The first pulses heat a tiny spot and flip its magnetism.
00:46More pulses enlarge that flipped region until it is stable.
00:49A smaller beam could also pack more data into the same space.
00:53The magnet may soon have a faster rival, light.
00:56Disclosure, this video contains stock footage and content created or enhanced using AI-assisted tools.

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