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Information Storage With a Nanoscale Twist


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The torque needed to manipulate nanoscale magnetic whirlpools, represented here as red and blue regions with opposite signs, have been revealed with high-powered synchrotron light.

Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have discovered a rotational force inside magnetic vortices, which they say could make it easier to design ultrahigh-capacity disk drives.

Credit: ref 1. 2016 American Physical Society

Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia have discovered a rotational force inside magnetic vortices, which they say could make it easier to design ultrahigh-capacity disk drives.

The researchers found swirling objects known as magnetic vortices and skyrmions can be miniaturized without sacrificing mobility. They say the research could be applied to future "race-track" memory technologies that feature massive densities of moveable magnetic bits.

One of the most appealing qualities of skyrmions is their ability to avoid defects in thin films that would normally trap a magnetic charge, according to KAUST professor Aurelien Manchon.

The researchers found that additional non-adiabatic torque intensifies when the size of the whirlpool is reduced, which is a driving force that could offer a way to overcome defect pinning at nanoscale. "This might be an interesting compromise to seek, especially in the context of skyrmion-based data storage," Manchon says.

From King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
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Abstracts Copyright © 2017 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA


 

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