Discovery of fastest ever magnetic wave propagation

Like light waves, magnetic waves move through materials at a fixed maximum velocity. However, at the smallest possible length scale (nanometres) and the shortest possible time scale (femtoseconds), magnetism behaves differently. Physicists at Radboud University have discovered that magnetic waves with very short wavelengths can propagate up to 40% faster than previously thought. This supermagnonic propagation offers opportunities for even faster, smaller and more energy-efficient ways of data processing in future computers. The research will be published in Physical Review Letters on 25 August.