Home > Press > New magnetic tuning method enhances data storage
A magnetic crystal sits on the head of a dime for scale. Scientists exploit the randomness of the magnetic field in the crystal at the molecular level to control the properties of the magnet as a whole. The chip underneath the crystal is a magnetic sensor. |
Abstract:
Researchers in Chicago and London have developed a method for controlling the properties of magnets that could be used to improve the storage capacity of next-generation computer hard drives.
Magnets that can readily switch their polarity are widely used in the computer industry for data storage, but they present an engineering challenge: A magnet's polarity must be easily switched when writing data to memory, but be difficult to switch when storing or reading it.
These conflicting requirements are typically met by heating and softening the magnet for saving data, then cooling and hardening the magnet for storage and reading. But now the University of Chicago's Daniel Silevitch and Thomas Rosenbaum and Gabriel Aeppli of the London Centre for Nanotechnology (a joint enterprise of University and Imperial Colleges London) have filed a patent on a method that avoids this complex heating operation. As the trio report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they can tune the softness of the magnet with the application of a small external magnetic field, which allows writing, storage and readout at a fixed temperature.
Citation: "Switchable hardening of a ferromagnet at fixed temperature," by D.M. Silevitch, G. Aeppli and T.F. Rosenbaum, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, Jan. 29, 2010.
Funding: U.S. Department of Energy and the United Kingdom Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
####
About University of Chicago
As the nation’s celebrated teacher of teachers, we place particular emphasis at the graduate level on the training of students for careers in academia and research. Committed to scholarship of the highest order, our faculty has made major contributions to existing bodies of knowledge and to the creation of new fields of study. Chicago scholars seek to break down artificial disciplinary barriers and frequently explore research and coursework outside their selected fields. We have long thrived in an atmosphere of free and open inquiry, which has led to classic studies of literary criticism and urban sociology, the development of ecology, and the study of religions as an academic field.
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Steve Koppes
773.702.8366
Copyright © University of Chicago
If you have a comment, please Contact us.Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Related News Press |
News and information
Simulating magnetization in a Heisenberg quantum spin chain April 5th, 2024
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Govt.-Legislation/Regulation/Funding/Policy
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Chemical reactions can scramble quantum information as well as black holes April 5th, 2024
Possible Futures
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
With VECSELs towards the quantum internet Fraunhofer: IAF achieves record output power with VECSEL for quantum frequency converters April 5th, 2024
Academic/Education
Rice University launches Rice Synthetic Biology Institute to improve lives January 12th, 2024
Multi-institution, $4.6 million NSF grant to fund nanotechnology training September 9th, 2022
Memory Technology
Utilizing palladium for addressing contact issues of buried oxide thin film transistors April 5th, 2024
Interdisciplinary: Rice team tackles the future of semiconductors Multiferroics could be the key to ultralow-energy computing October 6th, 2023
Researchers discover materials exhibiting huge magnetoresistance June 9th, 2023
Announcements
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Patents/IP/Tech Transfer/Licensing
Getting drugs across the blood-brain barrier using nanoparticles March 3rd, 2023
Metasurfaces control polarized light at will: New research unlocks the hidden potential of metasurfaces August 13th, 2021
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Announces Closing of Agreement with Takeda November 27th, 2020
Alliances/Trade associations/Partnerships/Distributorships
Chicago Quantum Exchange welcomes six new partners highlighting quantum technology solutions, from Chicago and beyond September 23rd, 2022
University of Illinois Chicago joins Brookhaven Lab's Quantum Center June 10th, 2022
The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
Premium Products | ||
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||