Light-controlled nanomagnetic computation schemes

ended

Computation using nanomagnets could serve as a low-power alternative to existing CMOS technologies. Here, binary information is encoded into two stable magnetic configurations of single-domain nanomagnets. In the last ten years, significant progress has been made towards the implementation of nanomagnetic networks for computation, either in the form of Boolean logic gates, or for more complex optimisation tasks. However, operational reliability and on-the-fly tuneability have remained problematic. Here, we propose to use surface-plasmon-induced local heating schemes to enable local, selective, and fast optical control of the relaxation pathways of nanomagnetic arrays. This novel approach towards the active manipulation of thermal magnetic relaxation potentially allows for the implementation of low-power, ultra-fast advanced computation schemes, such as reservoir computing.