As computing demands continue to surge, scientists are exploring the quantum world for smarter ways to process massive amounts of data. One promising direction is a field called orbitronics, which focuses on using the motion of electrons around an atom's nucleus, known as orbital angular momentum, to carry and store information more efficiently. Traditionally, controlling this motion has required magnetic materials such as iron, which are heavy, costly, and difficult to scale for practical devices.
A new study has now introduced a far simpler approach to generating this orbital motion in electrons. The key lies in an emerging area of physics centered on chiral phonons.
For the first time, researchers demonstrated that chiral phonons can directly transfer orbital angular momentum to electrons in a non-magnetic material. This finding removes a major limitation that has long held back orbitronics.
"The generation of orbital currents traditionally necessitates the injection of charge current into specific transition metals, and many of these elements are now classified as critical materials," said Dali Sun, physicist at North Carolina State University and co-author of the study. "There are other ways to generate orbital angular momentum, but this method allows for the use of cheaper, more abundant materials."
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