Researchers have made notable strides in improving the efficiency of spin wave transfer for transmitting information without generating heat.
A team of researchers led by Professor Hyungyu Jin and Dr. Sang Jun Park, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at POSTECH, has collaborated with Professor Jong-Ryul Jeong from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Chungnam National University and Professor Se Kwon Kim’s group from the Department of Physics at KAIST. They have achieved a significant advancement in making spin wave1) technology more commercially viable. This development is being recognized as a promising solution to the ongoing challenge of heat production in electronic devices. Their research was published online on September 26 in the journal Matter, which is linked to Cell.
If you’ve ever noticed your smartphone or computer getting warm during use, it’s because electrons are moving around inside the device to process and store information, which generates heat as a result. With the fast-paced growth of artificial intelligence and cloud computing, electronic devices are shrinking and becoming more complex, which exacerbates the overheating issue.
To tackle the heat generated by electronic devices, the technology that uses “spin waves” is gaining traction. Spin waves can carry information without moving electrons, taking advantage of the spin aspects of electrons found in magnetic insulators. Recent studies indicate that enhancing the temperature difference of spin waves in a material—where one part of a material gets warmer while another part gets cooler—boosts their efficiency in carrying information. However, previously, there was no method to independently adjust the temperature of spin waves.
The collaborative team from POSTECH, Chungnam National University, and KAIST has introduced an innovative solution inspired by the cooling fins used in car engines. They integrated nanometer-scale gold structures at one end of a thin film composed of magnetic insulator to effectively control temperature according to the density of the gold. These gold structures successfully lowered the temperature of the spin waves at the targeted spot, creating a temperature differential within the material. Their experiments showed that this thin film could enhance spin wave transfer efficiency by more than 250% compared to traditional techniques. This research is the first to showcase independent control over spin wave temperature and to present a method for improving spin wave transfer by leveraging this control.
Professor Hyungyu Jin emphasized the importance of this research, stating, “This study marks a key achievement in developing next-generation information transmission technologies to mitigate heat production in electronics.” Dr. Sang Jun Park, the primary author, added, “This technology presents exciting opportunities for diverse future applications using spin waves, thanks to the overcoming of previous constraints.”
This research received support from the Samsung Future Technology Incubation Program, the National Research Foundation of Korea, and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and was also honored with a silver award in the Energy and Environment category at the Samsung Humantech Paper Awards.
