Faster Computers Through Gadolinium?

A computer knows only two commands: on and off, “0” and “1”. Nevertheless, today’s high-performance computers impress us with breathtaking processing speed, high-resolution graphics, and increasingly human-like intelligence. This is possible because a computer has a large number of digital “switches”. Using the possible states “0” and “1”, even very complex information can be processed.

Using a special material, researchers at the Institute of Solid State Physics at TU Wien have now developed a “quadruple switch”. This consisted of a mixture of gadolinium, manganese, and oxygen and could switch between four polarizations instead of just two. Instead of only switching between the two charge states “0” and “1”, this switch moves between “0”, “1”, “2”, “3”, and “4”.

A single bit could thereby store much more information. What this means for data storage technology is not yet foreseeable. Another possible application of this quadruple memory can be found in the sensor technology of modern measuring instruments. This would, for example, allow earthquakes to be predicted more accurately.