Team's work with new material combination may boost computer memory

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The discovery of a new material combination that could lead to a more efficient approach to computer memory and logic will be described today (July 24) . The research, led by Penn State and Cornell University physicists, studies "spintorque" in devices that combine a standard magnetic material with a novel material known as a "topological insulator." The team's results show that such a scheme can be 10 times more efficient for controlling magnetic memory or logic than any other combination of materials measured to date. "This is a really exciting development for the field because it is the first promising indication that we actually may be able to build a practical technology with these topological insulator materials, which many condensed-matter physicists have been studying with spintronics applications as the motivation," said co-principal-investigator Nitin Samarth, a professor of physics, and the George A. and Margaret M. Downsbrough Department Head of Physics at Penn State. "Our experiment takes advantage of the very special surface of bismuth selenide - a material that is a topological insulator - which inherently supports the flow of electrons with an oriented spin," he said.