Ultrafast light delivers 10x magnetic control for quantum devices

Researchers at Lancaster University have demonstrated a novel method to control magnetism using ultrafast light pulses lasting less than a trillionth of a second. By exploiting interactions between electron orbitals and spins, the team achieved magnetic motion amplified up to ten times compared to materials lacking this orbital-spin coupling. This discovery reveals a fundamental mechanism whereby light can efficiently transfer angular momentum to electron spins, enabling rapid and large-scale steering of magnetization without direct contact or sustained energy input. The study involved comparing two similar magnetic materials differing in their electronic orbital structures. The material with strong orbital-spin interaction exhibited a dramatically enhanced magnetic response to ultrafast light, highlighting the crucial role of orbital motion in magnetic control. This mechanism allows magnetization to shift far from equilibrium, even reversing direction, which is essential for magnetic data storage technologies that encode information via magnetic orientation. The findings have significant implications for future quantum and classical devices, potentially enabling faster, more energy-efficient magnetic control with reduced heat and power loss compared to traditional electric current methods