Egg-shaped nanomagnets could support future data storage systems
April 28th, 2011 - 7:00 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Apr 28 (ANI): Researchers are claiming that “eggcentric” nanomagnets can suggest strategies for making future low-power computer memories.
Magnetics researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology used electron-beam lithography to make thousands of nickel-iron magnets, each about 200 nanometers (billionths of a meter) in diameter. Each magnet is ordinarily shaped like an ellipse, a slightly flattened circle.
Researchers also made some magnets in three different egg-like shapes with an increasingly pointy end.
It turns out that even small distortions in magnet shape can lead to significant changes in magnetic properties.
Researchers discovered this by probing the magnets with a laser and analyzing what happens to the “spins” of the electrons, a quantum property that’s responsible for magnetic orientation. Changes in the spin orientation can propagate through the magnet like waves at different frequencies.
The more egg-like the magnet, the more complex the wave patterns and their related frequencies. (ANI)
- Spin soliton to revolutionize cell phone communication - Sep 16, 2010
- Physicists discover odd fluctuating magnetic waves - Feb 24, 2010
- Pens that write with light used to draw 15,000 replicas of city skyline - Aug 02, 2010
- Spintronics: Next 'eco friendly' generation of electronics - Aug 10, 2010
- Nanostars harnessed to target cancer core - Apr 09, 2012
- Nanostructures may lead to faster, smaller, and more energy efficient computing devices - Jan 18, 2010
- Hybrid spintronic computer chips a step closer to reality - Apr 14, 2011
- Soon, computers that work 100K times faster than current hard disks - Nov 16, 2010
- Single-step technique spells hope for grapheme-based electronic devices - Feb 14, 2010
- Curved carbon to pave way for future nanoelectronics - Jan 24, 2011
- Electric control of aligned "spins" may improve computer memory - Jan 20, 2010
- First high-temp spin-field-effect transistor developed - Dec 24, 2010
- Ultrathin silicon substitute to revolutionize future electronics - Nov 23, 2010
- First-ever measurement of magnetic field inside Earth's core - Dec 17, 2010
- Magnetic computers could use million times less energy - Jul 06, 2011
Tags: circle researchers, computer memories, data storage systems, diameter, distortions, egg, electron beam lithography, electrons, ellipse, iron magnets, magnet, magnetic orientation, magnetic properties, national institute of standards, national institute of standards and technology, nickel iron, power computer, quantum property, shapes, wave patterns