Funded by a $6.5 million Department of Defense grant, Giovanni Vignale, a physics professor at the University of Missouri, is working to create a hybrid of the magnetic memory and superconductor logic components that make up the innards of most modern PCs. The proposed single hybrid material is expected to operate at higher speeds and use far less power than today's standard components. They will also cost a good deal less to manufacture.

"In this approach, the coupling between magnetic and non-magnetic components would occur via a magnetic field or flow of electron spin, which is the fundamental property of an electron and is responsible for most magnetic phenomena," said Vignale in a release issued by the Univeristy. "The hybrid devices that we target would allow seamless integration of memory and logical function, high-speed optical communication and switching, and new sensor capabilities."

Vignale's work focuses on the transfer of magnetic information. He added, "One of the main theoretical tools I will be using for this project is the time-dependent, spin-current density functional theory. It is a theory to which I have made many contributions over the years. The results of these theoretical calculations will be useful both to understand and to guide the experimental work of other team members."