A new type of material with bizarre acting electrons could bring dramatic advances in the world of electronics, predicts an Australian researcher.

Because of the way its electrons spin, the material could be used for applications where information needs to be densely packed, says Associate Professor Xiaolin Wang from the University of Wollongong.

"Conventional electronics and devices use only the electron's charge for information processing. When both spin and charge are used simultaneously, astonishing and unusual physical phenomena occur," he says.

Wang's theoretical research is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

The key to the difference lies in the properties of the electrons, tiny, negatively charged particles found within the new material, he says.

Under normal circumstances, half the electrons in a material spin in one direction and half in the other.

But in the new material, all the electrons are thought to spin in the same direction.