How certain nanoscale crystal defects can dramatically intensify ferromagnetism
Friday, September 12, 2014 - 08:41
in Physics & Chemistry
Magnetic materials are fundamental to many technologies, from data storage to next-generation spintronic devices. However, as integrated circuits become increasingly miniaturized and the sizes of magnetic components approach nanoscale dimensions, magnetic properties can disappear. Yasukazu Murakami and colleagues from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science and Tohoku University in Japan have now obtained important insight into the development of stable, strong nanomagnets, thanks to the discovery of amplified magnetization due to nanoscale atomic disorder in iron–aluminum alloys.