Complexity Digest 2001.35 - 06

27-Aug-2001

'Spin' Could Be Quantum Boost For Computers, NYTimes Bookmark and Share

Excerpt: Electronic devices like radios and computers work by shuttling around the electric charge of electrons. Hence, the "electron" in "electronics."

But besides their electric charge, electrons also have a less exploited property: "spin," an angular momentum that makes electrons act like tiny bar magnets. Researchers are beginning to tap into electrons' magnetic side as part of an emerging field known as spintronics.

Already, spintronics has yielded a couple of uses and may eventually provide the underpinning for computers that employ quantum mechanical efforts to perform calculations.