image: This figure shows a magnetic byte imaged five times in different magnetic states. A white signal on the right edge corresponds to logic 0 (and is labeled as such) and a blue signal to logic 1. Between two successive images, the magnetic states of the bits were switched to encode the binary representation of the ASCII characters “THINK.” The researchers have written the binary representation of all upper and lower case ASCII characters. This is only possible because the spontaneous switching rate of the byte is very low at once per 2-3 hours per byte at T=0.5K, which corresponds to a bit error rate of about once per day. The thermal stability is a strong function of the magnetic interaction between the iron atoms and will be investigated further. This image relates to a paper that appeared in the Jan. 13, 2012, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by Sebastian Loth at IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., and colleagues, was titled, “Bistability in Atomic-Scale Antiferromagnets.” view more
Credit: [Image courtesy of IBM Research/Almaden]