Friday, September 07, 2012

Opposites attract: nanomagnetism in theory and practice

Anna Demming



Putting theory into practice in nanotechnology can be far from trivial. Magnetic artificial atoms have been an example of the gulf that can sometimes separate idea from experiment. The step from regular semiconductor artificial atoms to magnetic may not confound the imagination, but it poses no mean fabrication challenge to experimental physicists. In this issue researchers in Germany have successfully fabricated a magnetic artificial atom [1]. As the researchers point out, the systems look promising for further study of the transport properties of 0D magnetic objects. Magnetic behavior in nanoscale systems has inspired a number of technological developments, such as energetically efficient digital logic circuitry [2]. Theory dictates that less energy is dissipated in the manipulation of nanomagnet logic bits than in the manipulation of electrical charges in transistor switches. Among the challenges when putting this into practice is the issue of sequential clocking. The ...



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