Invisible magnets could make computers 1,000x faster using light

Researchers from a Japanese-German consortium have launched a three-year project exploring antiferromagnets—magnetic materials with no measurable external magnetic field, often called “invisible magnets”—to potentially make computers process data up to 1,000 times faster. Unlike conventional magnets, antiferromagnets have atomic layers with opposing magnetic spins that cancel each other out, making them difficult to control. However, recent findings show these materials can be manipulated using intense light pulses on trillionth-of-a-second timescales, enabling ultrafast data processing and significantly reducing energy consumption in digital technologies. The international team, including experts from the Technical University of Munich, University of Konstanz, University of Tokyo, and RIKEN Institute, aims to understand how to control antiferromagnetic states rapidly and identify new materials that can be switched ultrafast by light or mechanical strain. Funded by the German Research Foundation and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the collaboration combines theoretical insights with cutting