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Popular Mechanics

Popular Mechanics

Scientists Used Lasers to Discover a Brand-New Magnetic State

Popular Mechanics
Summary
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MIT researchers successfully transformed the magnetic state of an antiferromagnetic material using nothing but light (in the form of a laser) This could have profound implications for designing smaller, faster, and more energy efficient memory chips.

In previous experiments, this kind of magnetic state only lasted for a trillionth of a second or so.

The authors report that this state persisted over “several milliseconds,” even when the laser was turned off.