Science Discovers New Type of Magnetism, Computers Cower with Fear

Leave it to a bunch of MIT kids to discover a new type of matter and a new type of magnetism during winter break. Okay well, it wasn't exactly a bunch of kids, and they actually started working on this before finals. A team of researchers led by MIT physics professor Young Lee have just revealed the existence of a new state called a quantum spin liquid (QSL), a breakthrough that could have tremendous implications in data storage and computing. They found it by synthesizing a mineral called herbertsmithite and have spent the past ten months growing a giant crystal of the stuff. (That's it to the right.) The crystal is solid, but the research team describes its magnetic state like a liquid. Sound confusing? Bear with me.

Up until now, science has agreed upon two different kinds of magnetism: ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism. The former is what you learned about in second grade, the property of iron that causes compass needles to point north and bar magnets which make Magna Doodle such an awesome game. The magnetic field is created by electrons spinning in the same direction creating opposing charges. Antiferromagnetism occurs when neighboring electrons spin opposite directions creating absolutely no magnetic charge. Using a combination of the two, we've come up with very helpful inventions like the hard drive, which can store data as a specific state but only for a limited about of time.

This fancy new quantum spin liquid could change all of that. Rather than all spinning one direction or alternating directions, the electrons in a QSL spin in irregular order allowing for more complex and precise measurements of the charges. In the words of the researchers, "they support exotic spin excitations carrying fractional quantum numbers." So like a liquid, QSLs are very adaptable, but like a solid, they're also rather durable. If this still sounds confusing, don't worry. The discovery is so new that even the MIT eggheads aren't even sure what the new state can do. "We have to get a more comprehensive understanding of the big picture," says Lee. "There is no theory that describes everything that we’re seeing."

They do have a few ideas of the possibilities, though. Like I said earlier, they anticipate the new state bearing some serious information for data storage--smaller, faster, more stable hard drives perhaps? What's potentially more revoutionary, though, is the possibility of high temperature superconductors which could lead to some serious advancements in quantum computing. At present, the superconductors necessary for quantum computer need to be kept at minus-200 degrees, whereas with the help of QSLs, they could exist at room temperature. If you really stretch your mind, you can imagine how this bears serious implications in other fields like transportation (think: maglev train).

Let's get serious, though. As we're discovering new kinds of matter and new types of magnetism, we have to wonder how far down the rabbit hole we can go. Too far down and we might circle back and realize that we're all living in the The Matrix after all.

Image via Wikipedia