JNCASR scientists discover mineral with potential for energy-efficient data storage

By conducting a detailed study using high-resolution neutron diffraction, the research team identified distinct magnetic structures in the material, including a spin density wave, as well as cycloidal and helical spin structures

Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.

Researchers from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in a discovery in the field of magnetoelectric materials have identified a unique mechanism of electric polarization via magnetic ordering in a novel mineral named MnBi2S4 which can be helpful in energy-efficient data storage.

Professor A. Sundaresan, chair, Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit at JNCASR, made this discovery and the findings of his study are outlined in a recent paper published in the journal PHYSICAL REVIEW B.

Novel material

The study focuses on a novel material named MnBi2S4, which exhibits a unique mechanism of inducing electric polarization via magnetic ordering.

MnBi2S4 is also known as mineral graţianite and belongs to the ternary manganese chalcogenide family. By conducting a detailed study using high-resolution neutron diffraction, Prof. Sundaresan’s team identified distinct magnetic structures in the material, including a spin density wave, as well as cycloidal and helical spin structures. They found that the last two spin structures induce ferroelectricity in the material.

The findings of this study could find applicability in the domain of energy-efficient data storage.

Specifically, if the material possesses the ability to exhibit the same phenomena at room temperature, it could pave the way for energy-efficient manipulation of spin using small electric fields. This, in turn, could revolutionise data storage by reducing energy consumption during writing processes.

Four-state logic memory system

Additionally, these findings can be helpful for the development of a four-state logic memory system, providing additional degrees of freedom for device performance compared to the current binary logic systems.

Going ahead, however, the researchers express the need for further exploration of different materials and structures to understand the mechanisms that break inversion symmetry and induce polarization, with the goal of finding materials that exhibit these properties at room temperature.