The spin of electrons is the best way to storage information… theoretically. This property of electrons is so subtle and erratic that it is virtually impossible to use them in an efficient way. But as everything in science, this is changing.
At Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at TU Delft, they’re starting to control the behavior of spins. By using a thin silver thread, and a 2D material made of tungsten disulfide, “and using circularly polarised light, they’ve created excitons with a specific rotational direction”. And what’s more impressive, this experiment works at room temperature. And finally, to make it more interesting, in this process there is no flow of electrons involved, meaning that there is a global energy reduction in the storage of data.
We made this picture to illustrate their experiment.