Scientists Film a Magnetic Lattice 'Melt' in Real Time, Eyeing Brain-Like Computers

Physicists have filmed, for the first time, how an orderly lattice of tiny magnetic vortices called skyrmions breaks down in real time, a feat researchers say could eventually inform smaller and more energy-efficient computing designs, including systems inspired by the brain.

The work, led by researchers at the Institute of Physics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz with Norwegian University of Science and Technology physicist Asle Sudbø, showed the team could not only watch the lattice melt but also reshape and resize individual skyrmions in the process, something earlier studies had not demonstrated. Skyrmions are swirling, particle-like distortions in a material's magnetic structure that researchers have spent over a decade investigating as a potential building block for next-generation data storage and computing, since they can be moved and manipulated with far less energy than conventional magnetic memory.

"For the first time, researchers have managed to film how a magnetic skyrmion lattice melts in real time," Sudbø said of the findings, published in Nature Nanotechnology. "This could revolutionize the way we think about computers," he added, while cautioning that substantial engineering work remains before the technique could move from the laboratory into any practical device.