4 States of Magnetic Vortices (IMAGE) DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Caption The electron spins in a magnetic vortex all point in parallel, either clockwise or counterclockwise. Spins in the crowded core of the vortex must point out of the plane, either up or down. The four possible orientations of circularity and polarity could form the cells of multibit magnetic storage and processing systems. Credit Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Usage Restrictions with credit as given License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.