A single trapped vortex in a superconductor stores one bit at about five times the Landauer limit
Hebrew University researchers stored a bit in one superconducting vortex that runs at about five times the Landauer limit. It works only near 4 Kelvin, so any use is confined to cryogenic hardware.
The Scientist · Science desk
What happened
- The bit is a single magnetic vortex trapped between two stable positions, and the two positions stand for zero and one.
- The team did not try to detect the minute heat from the moving vortex; it tracked the vortex's magnetic response with a SQUID-on-tip microscope.
- Phys.org's account says a modern computer typically needs more than a million times more energy for the same operation.
- The researchers say it is the first such low-energy result with a single superconducting vortex, though other physical systems have approached Landauer's limit before.
- They describe the work as a proof of principle and say more research is needed before it can scale into practical memory devices.
Why it matters
- constraint At around 4 Kelvin the bit has no route into everyday computers, so it can compete only in hardware that is already cold.
- capability Quantum computers already run at similar temperatures, so a bit like this could hold classical information inside them at very low dissipation per operation.
- decision Anyone comparing this with other cryogenic memories needs the paper's definition of the measured cycle first, because the article says the limit prices erasure while the lead author describes measuring operation.
Nofar Fridman, who co-led the study with Dr. Yonathan Anahory [10], described the measurement problem plainly. "A vortex is an exceptionally small and delicate object, so measuring the energy dissipated by its motion is a major experimental challenge," she said [6]. That sentence also fixes what the headline number covers. It is the energy dissipated by one vortex moving.
The article does not say whether the five-times figure includes the refrigeration that holds the device at 4 Kelvin, or how the comparison with a modern computer was made. That comparison, a factor of more than a million, appears in phys.org's own text and is not attributed to the researchers [12]. We would not carry it into a cost model.
Anahory put the result this way: "We found that it can run at approximately five times Landauer's limit, bringing it remarkably close to the minimum permitted by physics" [4]. Landauer's limit is the theoretical floor for erasing one bit [1]. Close, here, means a factor of five above that floor.
In our view the sensible reading is narrow. The savings count only if the bit sits in a machine that is already cold, because the researchers themselves say the device is unsuitable for everyday computers at around minus 269 degrees Celsius [7]. Quantum computers are the obvious candidate host, since they already run at similar temperatures [8].
What to watch
- Whether the paper's energy figure counts only the vortex's dissipation or also the refrigeration that holds it at 4 Kelvin.
- A demonstration with more than one vortex bit, since the present result is a single bit and the researchers say scaling needs more research.
- Whether other groups measure comparable low-dissipation bits the same way, by magnetic response instead of heat.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap+10
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence50
Claim ledger
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- [1]
A study in Nature Communications demonstrates a superconducting memory bit that operates using only about five times Landauer's limit, the theoretical minimum amount of energy needed to erase one bit of information.
- [2]
The researchers stored information in a superconducting vortex, a tiny magnetic whirlpool that forms inside certain materials when they are cooled to extremely low temperatures.
- [3]
The team trapped a single vortex between two stable positions, which represented the zero and one of a single bit.
- [4]
"We found that it can run at approximately five times Landauer's limit, bringing it remarkably close to the minimum permitted by physics." Anahory also said: "Our work measures the energy required to operate a superconducting vortex-based memory bit."
- [5]
Rather than trying to detect the temperature increase caused by the minute heat released by the moving vortex, the researchers tracked its magnetic response using an ultrasensitive SQUID-on-tip microscope.
- [6]
"A vortex is an exceptionally small and delicate object, so measuring the energy dissipated by its motion is a major experimental challenge," said Fridman. "By following its magnetic response, we were able to compare its energy cost with the fundamental limits of information processing."
- [7]
The device is experimental and operates only at around 4 Kelvin (minus 269 degrees Celsius), making it unsuitable for everyday computers.
- [8]
Quantum computers already operate at similar cryogenic temperatures, and in the future devices like this could provide an energy-efficient way to store classical information inside those systems.
- [9]
The work is a proof of principle that superconducting vortices can serve as ultralow-energy memory elements, and more research is needed before it can be scaled into practical memory devices for cryogenic and quantum computing.
- [10]
Hebrew University researcher Dr. Yonathan Anahory led the study with Nofar Fridman.
- [11]
The researchers say this is the first demonstration of such low energy consumption using a single superconducting vortex, though other physical systems have previously approached Landauer's limit.
- [12]
According to phys.org, a modern computer typically requires more than a million times more energy to perform the same operation.
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Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- phys.orgA tiny magnetic whirlpool could point to a new kind of ultra-efficient memory
1 article · October 14, 2026
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