Spin waves in bits observed for the first time
August 4, 2014
Image STM image of two artificial bits of seven iron atoms each: one vertically oriented (top) and one diagonally oriented (bottom left)
Every time a bit on your hard disk drive is flipped, for a very short period, countless waves will propagate through the bit. These waves are known as spin waves. How spin waves exactly influence the flipping process is hard to determine. In a joint effort, researchers at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) together with colleges at TU Delft (the Netherlands) have now succeeded for the first time in observing spin waves in a bit consisting of only six atoms. They report their findings in this month’s issue of Nature Materials, which devotes the cover to their work.
Read Press Release here
First full movie of the flip of a magnetic bit
