IBM Scientists Develop New Way to Explore and Control Atom-Scale Magnetism

IBM Scientists Develop New Way to Explore and Control Atom-Scale Magnetism

IBM scientists have developed a powerful new technique for exploring and controlling magnetism at its fundamental atomic level. The new method promises to be an important tool in the quest not only to understand the operation of future computer circuit and data-storage elements as they shrink toward atomic dimensions, but also to lay the foundation for new materials and computing devices that leverage atom-scale magnetic phenomena.

“We have developed a window into the atomic heart of magnetism,” said Andreas Heinrich, research staff member at IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. “We can now position atoms and then measure and control their magnetic interactions within precisely designed structures.” The new method, called spin-excitation spectroscopy, uses IBM’s special low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope designed for use with a broad range of magnetic fields up to 140,000 times stronger than the earth’s. The researchers first move atoms into position and then measure the interactions between their atomic spins, which are the fundamental sources of magnetism.

In their experiments, the IBM researchers created chains of up to 10 manganese atoms atop an extremely thin electrically insulating surface and measured how the magnetic properties changed as each new atom was added. They found that chains with an even number of atoms had no net magnetism, while chains with an odd number of atoms showed net magnetism.

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