Magnetic Skyrmion (IMAGE)
Caption
In the future, a magnetic skyrmion could encode a "1" in data storage. The skyrmion is made up by the specific arrangement of the magnetic moments of neighboring atoms, represented by arrows in the images. Shown on the right is a skyrmion where neighboring atoms have approximately opposite magnetization, hence cloaking the resulting net magnetic stray field. In this way, smaller diameter skyrmions are stable. Physicists talk about "antiferromagnetic" (AFM) rather than "ferromagnetic" (FM) order between neighboring moments .
Credit
L. Caretta, M. Huang, MIT
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