Scientists cut magnetic memory switching energy by orders of magnitude

September 13, 2026 at 12:02 PM1 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Researchers led by Elton Santos at the University of Edinburgh have developed a method to switch magnetic memory cells using far less energy than current technologies, approaching the Landauer limit. The approach, published in Advanced Materials, uses optimal control theory to shape magnetic pulses and could reduce energy consumption by several orders of magnitude compared to DRAM, STT-MRAM, and SOT-MRAM.

Key Facts

The study was published in the journal Advanced Materials.
The method is based on optimal control theory to calculate the ideal shape of a magnetic pulse.
Energy consumption could be reduced by several orders of magnitude compared to DRAM, STT-MRAM, and SOT-MRAM.
The approach works with magnetic fields, electric currents, and ultrafast laser pulses.

The Research

Researchers led by Elton Santos at the University of Edinburgh applied optimal control theory to calculate the ideal shape of a magnetic pulse. The study was published in the journal Advanced Materials. The team found that carefully designing how the magnetic field changes over time allows magnetization to be switched far more efficiently than with conventional approaches.

Energy Savings

The new method could reduce energy consumption by several orders of magnitude compared to DRAM, STT-MRAM, and SOT-MRAM. The approach approaches the Landauer limit, the minimum energy required by thermodynamics to process one bit. The method is universal and works with magnetic fields, electric currents, and ultrafast laser pulses.

Implications

The authors say the approach opens a path to fundamentally more energy-efficient electronics. This is particularly important given the rapid growth of data centers and artificial intelligence, which consume enormous amounts of energy for memory operations.