Magnetic waves are known as solitons—for solitary waves—and were theorized to occur in magnets in the 1970s. They form because of a delicate balance of magnetic forces—much like water waves can form a tsunami.
Now physicists have used a specialized x-ray method to take pictures of them.
“This is an exciting discovery because it shows that small magnetic waves—known as spin-waves—can add up to a large one in a magnet, a wave that can maintain its shape as it moves,” explains Andrew Kent, a professor of physics at New York University and the study’s senior author.
The researchers say these waves could potentially be harnessed to transmit data in magnetic circuits in a way that is far more energy efficient than current methods that involve moving electrical charge.
“Magnetism has been used for navigation for thousands of years and more recently to build generators, motors, and data storage devices,” says study coauthor Hendrik Ohldag, a scientist at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL), where the soliton was discovered. “However, magnetic elements were mostly viewed as static and uniform.
