Magnetic interactions imaged in nanoscale

[nanoorg]

Magnetic interactions imaged in nanoscale


In a first-of-its-kind achievement, U.S. scientists say they've directly imaged the interactions between two magnetic atoms less than one nanometer apart.

Researchers at the University of Iowa, the University of Illinois- Champaign and Princeton University said their findings bring scientists one step closer toward realizing the goal of building a very advanced semiconductor computer chip.

Such a chip would be based upon a property of the electron called "spin" and the related technology of "spintronics," said Michael Flatté, a professor in the University of Iowa's department of physics and astronomy.

"With spintronics, data manipulation and long-term storage can be conducted in one computer chip, rather than separately in a CPU and a hard drive as currently practiced," said Flatté. "The data manipulation could also be done quicker and require less power. Such a computer would be much smaller in size and use less energy."

The research -- funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army Research Office -- is reported in the journal Nature.



Source:

http://www.upi.com/


This story was first posted on 28th July 2006.