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Scientists Discover a New Kind of Magnet (ieee.org)
Wave723 shares a report from IEEE Spectrum: A new kind of magnet, theorized for decades, may now have been experimentally proven to exist. And it could eventually lead to better data storage devices. In a normal magnet, the magnetic moments of individual grains align with each other to generate a magnetic field. In contrast, in the new "singlet-based" magnet, magnetic moments are temporary in nature, popping in and out of existence. Although a singlet-based magnet's field is unstable, the fact that such magnets can more easily transition between magnetic and non-magnetic states can make them well-suited for data storage application. Specifically, they could operate more quickly and with less power than conventional devices, says Andrew Wray, a materials physicist at New York University who led the research. Now, Wray and his colleagues have discovered the first example of a singlet-based magnet that is robust -- one made from uranium antimonide (USb2). "It ends up taking very little energy to create spin excitons for uranium antimonide," Wray says. "This is essential for the singlet-based magnet, because if it took a lot of energy, then there wouldn't be enough spin excitons to condense, stabilize one another, and give you a magnet." The research has been published in the journal Nature Communications.
How do they work?
So our hard drives will be coated with uranium antimonide? That sounds like fun.
We have finally found a place to dump all the nuclear waste! It's going to our next gen data centers!
I see a glowing future ahead of us.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I can't wait for USB sticks to come in 12" thick lead-lined concrete cases with free shipping from Alibaba.
Let's see the delivery guy try throwing that package across the front yard.