A depiction of magnetic charge ice. Nanoscale magnets are arranged in a two-dimensional lattice. Each nanomagnet produces a pair of magnetic charges, one positive (red ball on the north pole) and one negative (blue ball on the south pole). The magnetic flux lines (white) point from positive charges to negative charges. (Image credit: Yong-Lei Wang/Zhili Xiao)
Topics: Computer Science, Condensed Matter Physics, Electromagnetism, Materials Science, Nanotechnology, Solid State Physics
Topics: Computer Science, Condensed Matter Physics, Electromagnetism, Materials Science, Nanotechnology, Solid State Physics
Note: Title is derived from the home page (third frame in CSS - cascading style sheet format) on ANL.gov.
A team of scientists working at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Argonne National Laboratory has created a new material, called "rewritable magnetic charge ice," that permits an unprecedented degree of control over local magnetic fields and could pave the way for new computing technologies.
The scientists' research report on development of magnetic charge ice is published in the May 20 issue of the journal Science. "With potential applications involving data storage, memory and logic devices, magnetic charge ice could someday lead to smaller and more powerful computers or even play a role in quantum computing." said Zhili Xiao who holds a joint appointment between Argonne and Northern Illinois University.
Current magnetic storage and recording devices, such as computer hard disks, contain nanomagnets with two polarities, each of which is used to represent either 0 or 1 — the binary digits, or bits, used in computers. A magnetic charge ice system could have eight possible configurations instead of two, resulting in denser storage capabilities or added functionality unavailable in current technologies.
Argonne National Laboratories:
Scientists create 'magnetic charge ice', Jared Sagoff, Tom Parisi
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