Scientists from UT Austin and the Max Planck Institute have unveiled a groundbreaking material, nickel iodide, which exhibits exceptional magnetoelectric coupling. This discovery could lead to revolutionary advancements in fast, compact and energy-efficient computer memory.
In a significant stride towards transformative tech solutions, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) have identified nickel iodide (NiI2) as a standout material for ultra-fast and compact computer memory.
Published in the journal Nature, this study highlights the untapped potential of NiI2, a multiferroic material with extraordinary properties that could spearhead advancements across several technological domains, including chemical sensors and quantum computing. For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that NiI2 exhibits stronger magnetoelectric coupling than any known material of its kind, marking a significant leap in the quest for efficient and powerful devices.
Multiferroics are unique because they couple magnetic and electric properties. This duality allows the manipulation of a material’s magnetic characteristics using electric fields and vice versa.
“Unveiling these effects at the scale of atomically thin nickel iodide flakes was a formidable challenge,” the study’s co-lead author Frank Gao, a postdoctoral fellow in physics at UT Austin, said in a news release. “But our success presents a significant advancement in the field of multiferroics.”
“Our discovery paves the way for extremely fast and energy-efficient magnetoelectric devices, including magnetic memories,” added co-lead author and graduate student Xinyue Peng.
This innovative research diverges from traditional approaches. By employing ultrashort laser pulses within the femtosecond range — a millionth of a billionth of a second — researchers excited the material and analyzed its responses to better understand the coupling between electric and magnetic orders. These rapid and precise methods unveiled how NiI2’s layered structure accommodates stronger magnetoelectric effects.
“Two factors play important roles here,” co-author Emil Viñas Boström, a postdoctoral researcher at MPSD, said in the news release. “One of them is the strong coupling between the electrons’ spin and orbital motion on the iodine atoms — that’s a relativistic effect known as spin-orbit coupling. The second factor is the particular form of the magnetic order in nickel iodide, known as a spin spiral or spin helix. This ordering is crucial both to initiate the ferroelectric order and for the strength of the magnetoelectric coupling.”
The implications of this discovery are immense. With NiI2’s strong magnetoelectric coupling, the prospects for creating memory devices that are more compact, faster and vastly more energy-efficient compared to current technologies are promising. Possible applications extend to quantum computing platforms and enhanced chemical sensors, which can significantly improve quality control and safety assurance in various industries.
The research team, led by Edoardo Baldini, assistant professor of physics at UT Austin, and Angel Rubio, director of MPSD, hopes that these insights will catalyze the discovery of other materials with similar properties and inspire further enhancements in magnetoelectric coupling through advanced material engineering.
The collaborative spirit of this study was bolstered by contributions from a diverse group of scientists, including participants from Academia Sinica, the University of Bremen and the California Institute of Technology.
The potential embedded in these findings points toward a future where technological advancements, underpinned by groundbreaking materials like NiI2, could usher in unprecedented capabilities in the realm of data storage and beyond.