A step forward for the future of data storage
A KTH researcher is part of an international team that has unlocked the secret to creating stable dynamic skyrmions – the nanoscale magnetic whirls that promise to meet our insatiable appetite for data storage.
The future of data storage is likely to be found in nanometer scale, stable magnetic whirls called skyrmions, which behave like particles in magnetic thin films. But creating these whirls has been notoriously difficult, requiring carefully-engineered multilayers or very specific bulk materials.
However, recent research published in Nature Communication could change that. Johan Åkerman, a renowned spintronics researcher and a guest professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology who co-led the study, says that the research enables an entirely new range of materials where skyrmions can be observed.
“Since there is an insatiable appetite for storing information, for uses such as mobile phones, computers, and particularly online, nano-skyrmions are very interesting as an information carrier,” Åkerman says. “They can be made extremely small and are easily programmed using spin-polarized currents like in MRAM (magnetoresistive random-access memory).”
The team showed that a magnetic skyrmion can be created under a nanocontact, in which a spin-polarized current is injected into the magnetic thin film providing a so-called spin torque to its magnetic moments. For sufficiently large currents, this setup will allow the creation of a skyrmion of 10-20 nanometers in size, underneath the nanocontact.
A skyrmions can also be stabilized by the spinning motion around its own axis, in a way that’s similar to how a top stabilizes itself. Once created, they can be transported over distances of several hundreds nanometers, which means that skyrmions can be created and manipulated in materials that have never before been considered for skyrmionics.
In using the spin-polarized currents, the study recalls Åkerman’s discovery of a spin torque-generated nano-droplet in 2013.
“We have also shown that the dynamic skyrmions can generate much stronger output in spintronic oscillators, so the potential use for this new phenomenon is great,” he says.
Read more: New method for dynamic, stable skyrmions is developed
The Latest on: Skyrmions
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Skyrmions” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Skyrmions
- Complex topological skyrmions from a “needle”on April 21, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Moreover, the standard skyrmions are usually produced by exotic structured materials such as chiral magnetics, plasmonic systems. While, we show that our new quasiparticle alphabet can be ...
- Skyrmions move at record speeds: a step towards the computing of the futureon April 18, 2024 at 5:00 pm
(Nanowerk News) An international research team led by scientists from the CNRS has discovered that the magnetic nanobubbles known as skyrmions can be moved by electrical currents, attaining record ...
- Skyrmions move at record speeds: A step towards the computing of the futureon April 18, 2024 at 11:25 am
An international research team led by scientists from the CNRS has discovered that the magnetic nanobubbles known as skyrmions can be moved by electrical currents, attaining record speeds up to ...
- Skyrmions move at record speeds: A step towards the computing of the futureon April 17, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Skyrmions move at record speeds: A step towards the computing of the future. ScienceDaily . Retrieved May 3, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2024 / 04 / 240418165153.htm ...
- Scientists experimentally observe current-driven antiskyrmion slidingon April 17, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Their work was published in Nature Materials on April 11. Magnetic (anti)skyrmions with topologically protected spin structures are promising as next-generation information units in spintronic ...
- Weird magnetic 'skyrmion' quasiparticle could be used as a bit in advanced computing memoryon April 17, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Previously, skyrmions had only moved as fast as 100 meters per second (roughly 225 mph), which is too slow to compete with state-of-the-art technologies, the scientists said.
- Spintronics: A new path to room temperature swirling spin textureson April 16, 2024 at 5:01 pm
Examples of such structures are magnetic bubbles, skyrmions, and magnetic vortices. Spintronics aims to make use of such tiny magnetic structures to store data or perform logic operations with ...
- Researchers reveal highly efficient bit-switch using skyrmionson March 24, 2024 at 4:04 pm
These clever devices can operate using 1,000 times less power than conventional memory technologies by leveraging magnetic skyrmions. But what are they? Imagine a little ball of magnetized ...
- Skyrmions: Revolutionizing Data Storage and Magnetic Materialson March 9, 2024 at 4:39 am
Introduction to Skyrmions: Skyrmions are a fascinating class of topological solitons that have garnered significant attention in the field of spintronics and magnetic storage technologies. Skyrmions ...
via Bing News