Magnetic Materials
Smallest-ever magnetic data storage unit is built atom by atom
January 16, 2012 8:49 am | News | CommentsScientists from IBM and the German Center for Free-Electron Laser Science have built the world's smallest magnetic data storage unit. It uses just twelve atoms per bit, the basic unit of information, and squeezes a whole byte (8 bits) into as few as 96 atoms.
Magnetically levitated flies offer clues to future of life in space
January 4, 2012 8:56 am | News | CommentsUsing powerful magnets to levitate fruit flies can provide vital clues to how biological organisms are affected by weightless conditions in space, researchers at The University of Nottingham say. The team of scientists has shown that simulating weightlessness in fruit flies here on earth with the use of magnets causes the flies to walk more quickly.
Researchers observe magnon drag for the first time
December 19, 2011 4:42 am | News | CommentsIn the 1950s, researchers first observed phonon drag, a thermoelectric effect that occurs as electrons move past atoms in a solid. Physicists predicted an analogous phenomenon in magnetic materials, but aside from indirect indications of its existence, magnon drag has been elusive. Until now.
Single-cell monitoring technique tracks cancer growth
December 15, 2011 9:03 am | by Nicole Casal Moore | News | CommentsA technique that lets researchers monitor single cancer cells in real time as they float in liquid could help doctors study the breakaway tumor cells that cause cancer growth, or metastasis. The approach uses magnets to rotate cancer cells in a way that lets their spinning speed reveal their shape and status.
Big success with tiny crystals
November 30, 2011 4:27 am | News | CommentsA little piece of iron wire is magnetic—just like a huge iron rod. When it comes to material properties, size usually does not matter. Surprisingly, researchers from Austria and India have now discovered that some materials show very unusual behavior, when they are studied in the form of tiny crystals. This could now lead to new materials with tailor-made electronic and magnetic properties.
New sensors optically visualize magnetic fields
November 28, 2011 10:42 am | by Marco Koschny and Hendryk Richert, Matesy GmbH, and Morris Lindner, Innovent e.V. | Application NotesReliable use of magnetic materials in manufacturing and R&D requires exact information of magnetic field distribution. German software firm Matesy has developed a new visualization and measurement system called CMOS-MagView that it has used to help develop a new type of magneto-optical sensor.
Cantilever design protects magnetic-force microscopes
November 22, 2011 9:17 am | News | CommentsConventional cantilevers used in magnetic-force microscopes have been compromised either by a low resistance to magnetizing force from the sample material, or by lack of resolution due to coatings that protect them from magnetism. A new composite developed in China avoids both drawbacks.
Unexpected magnetic excitations in doped insulator surprise researchers
October 24, 2011 4:46 am | News | CommentsWhen doping a disordered magnetic insulator material with atoms of a nonmagnetic material, the conventional wisdom is that the magnetic interactions between the magnetic ions in the material will be weakened. However, when the antiferromagnetic insulator barium manganate was doped, the barium manganate's magnetic excitations were surprisingly unreduced in strength and energy.
NIST measures key property of potential spintronic material
October 20, 2011 3:33 am | News | CommentsAn advanced material that could help bring about next-generation "spintronic" computers has revealed one of its fundamental secrets to a team of scientists from Argonne National Laboratory and NIST.
Argonne receives grant to create cheaper magnets
October 3, 2011 4:17 am | by Jared Sagoff | News | CommentsThe United States Department of Energy (DOE) announced a $3 million grant to Argonne National Laboratory to further research in developing better, cheaper, and lighter magnets.
New quantum spin conductors are impervious to magnetic impurities
September 30, 2011 6:55 am | News | CommentsConductors like copper heat up, limiting circuit densities. Materials that exhibit the quantum spin Hall effect offer flow without the need for heat dissipation, but they are hindered by magnetic imperfections. Researchers at RIKEN in Japan believe they’ve solved this problem.
Nanostructure-based process streamlines production of magnetic materials
September 27, 2011 9:39 am | News | CommentsScientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst report that for the first time they have designed a much simpler method of preparing ordered magnetic materials than ever before, by coupling magnetic properties to nanostructure formation at low temperatures.
Researchers design new magnetic cloak
September 23, 2011 5:07 am | News | CommentsSpanish researchers have designed what they believe to be a new type of magnetic cloak, which shields objects from external magnetic fields, while at the same time preventing any magnetic internal fields from leaking outside, making the cloak undetectable.
Engineers invent a magnetic fluid pump with no moving parts
September 16, 2011 5:52 am | News | CommentsUsed in Hollywood and the advertising industry to create exotic special effects, ferrofluids are seemingly magical materials that are both liquid and magnetic at once. In a study, a team from Yale University, with colleagues from the University of Georgia and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, demonstrated for the first time an approach that allows ferrofluids to be pumped by magnetic fields alone.
Neutron analysis reveals unique atom-scale behavior of 'cobalt blue'
September 7, 2011 4:40 am | News | CommentsNeutron scattering studies of "cobalt blue," a compound prized by artists for its lustrous blue hue, are revealing unique magnetic characteristics that could answer questions about mysterious properties in other materials.
A material's magnetic surprise could mean new technologies
August 30, 2011 5:57 am | by Laura Mgrdichian | News | CommentsScientists working at the National Synchrotron Light Source have discovered an unusually fragile, unstable magnetic state in a member of a class of materials known for its robust magnetic behaviors. Their discovery could lead to applications in the emerging field of spintronics.
Los Alamos achieves world-record pulsed magnetic field
August 23, 2011 11:24 am | News | CommentsA research team at Los Alamos National Laboratory have set a new world record for the strongest magnetic field produced by a nondestructive magnet. They achieved a field of 92.5 tesla on Aug. 18, taking back a record that had been held by a team of German scientists. Then they surpassed the record again the next day.
Wanted: 2011's Top Technologies
August 15, 2011 6:12 am | Blogs | CommentsThe editors of R&D Magazine have opened the nominations for the 2012 R&D 100 Awards competition, which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the awards. If your organization introduced a new product this year, or is planning to, you can begin the entry process now.
Rhomap aims to supply magneto-transport measurement systems
August 4, 2011 5:06 am | News | CommentsThe Ohmpoint Measurement System from Rhomap is an effort to supply developers with a turn-key measurement solution that can accommodate a wide variety magnetic products. The system measures resistance in two- or four-point geometry, sheet resistance and magneto-transport behavior, including Hall effect and magnetoresistance.
The revised art of magnetic writing
August 1, 2011 8:09 am | News | CommentsWriting data on magnetic media is currently performed using magnetic fields produced by wires and coils. A new technique developed by a research team in Europe eliminates the need for cumbersome magnetic fields and provides a simple and reversible way to write memory elements.
Physicists make new find of magnetic skyrmions
August 1, 2011 8:06 am | News | CommentsSkyrmions are cycloidal spin structures of exceptional stability named after the theoretical physicist, Tony Skyrme, who first discovered them. Researchers in Germany have now found for the first time a regular lattice of these skyrmions on the surface of atomically-thin metal film. They are also different than any previously found skyrmions.
Creative thinking leads to thermopower efficiency clues
July 28, 2011 12:43 pm | by Paul Preuss | News | CommentsTechnologies that convert temperature differences directly into electricity without wasteful intervening steps is promising, but efficiencies are limited. By turning the tables on current research and attempting to create magnetic fields instead of electric fields in prototype devices, Berkeley researchers found some unusual phenomena.
Rare coupling of magnetic and electric properties in a single material
July 25, 2011 5:38 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have observed a new way that magnetic and electric properties can coexist in a special class of metals. These materials, known as multiferroics, could serve as the basis for the next generation of faster and energy-efficient logic, memory, and sensing technology.
Chemists create molecular polyhedron
July 22, 2011 5:51 am | News | CommentsChemists have created a molecular polyhedron, a ground-breaking assembly that has the potential to impact a range of industrial and consumer products, including magnetic and optical materials.
World-record 25-tesla 'split magnet' makes its debut
July 13, 2011 10:43 am | News | CommentsA $2.5 million magnet that generates 500,000 times the force of the Earth’s magnetic field has recently debuted at Florida State University’s magnetics lab. The “split” design overcomes the structural limitations associated with resistive magnets. Four large elliptical ports allow researchers to access the magnet’s core without disrupting the magnetic field.
