SUPERFAST computers could be on the way now that we have the ideal 鈥渕ultiferroic鈥� material to build them with.
鈥淪pintronic鈥� computers calculate using four logical states and so should be far faster than today鈥檚 binary computers, which use two. Multiferroics can create these states because they produce both electric and magnetic fields, and each can be switched between two directions.
Most multiferroics only work below -230 掳C, but now researchers at Bell Labs in New Jersey and Osaka University in Japan have found some superconducting copper oxides that are multiferroic at -50 掳C, which is well within reach of simple electric coolers (Nature Materials, ). They now hope to find materials that work at even warmer temperatures.
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