Researchers at UC San Diego found a new way to write digital data. Instead of using magnets to flip magnetic states, they shaped and shrank an ultrafast laser beam to do it with light. In their demonstration, this method could switch data more than 1,000 times faster than today's magnetic approach.
Memory speed shapes how fast every phone, laptop, and data center can work. Writing data with light instead of magnets could also lead to smaller chips that use less energy, which matters for battery life and the growing power demands of computing. The researchers say the technique is promising but still early, so real-world devices would take further development.
✦ Someday your devices might write data with light, not magnets — faster and cooler.