– Researchers have found that a quasiparticle known as a “skyrmion” could potentially be used as a bit in advanced magnetic memory technologies. Skyrmions are nanometer-sized swirling magnetic bubbles formed from a few dozen atoms.
– Skyrmions were previously too slow to use, moving at only 100 m/s. However, researchers have now sped them up to 900 m/s by moving them through an antiferromagnetic material with an electric current.
– Skyrmions could combine the benefits of technologies like RAM and flash memory by providing non-volatile storage that is also very fast and dense. Their presence could encode a 1 and absence a 0, storing data.
– Simulations also show skyrmions may be able to perform calculations, suggesting they could form the basis for a universal memory and processing component. This would significantly speed up computers by avoiding separating memory and processing.
– If further exploited, skyrmions could lead to advances like all-in-one memory/processor chips and even basic artificial intelligence chips using their logical operation capabilities. However, more research is still needed to fully develop skyrmion-based technologies.
Source: LiveScience
