Researchers have discovered a new type of magnetism in 2D materials that can help store data.<\/p>\n
The team led by researchers from the University of Stuttgart experimentally demonstrated the previously unknown form of magnetism in atomically thin material layers.<\/p>\n
Researchers revealed that the discovery is highly relevant for future magnetic data storage technologies and advances the fundamental understanding of magnetic interactions in two-dimensional systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs data volumes continue to grow, future magnetic storage<\/a> media must be able to store information reliably at ever higher densities,\u201d says Professor J\u00f6rg Wrachtrup, Head of the Center for Applied Quantum Technologies (ZAQuant) at the University of Stuttgart, whose group led the project. <\/p>\n \u201cOur results are therefore directly relevant for next-generation data storage technologies. At the same time, they are of fundamental importance, as they provide new insights into magnetic interactions<\/a> in atomically thin materials.\u201d<\/p>\n The team discovered the new magnetic state that emerges in a system consisting of four atomic layers of chromium iodide. <\/p>\n Researchers can selectively control this magnetism<\/p>\n \u201cWe can selectively control this magnetism by tuning the interactions between electrons in the individual layers,\u201d explained Dr. Ruoming Peng, a postdoctoral researcher at the 3rd Physics Institute of the University of Stuttgart, who carried out the experiments at ZAQuant together with doctoral researcher King Cho Wong. \u201cWhat is particularly remarkable is that the observed magnetic properties are robust against environmental perturbations.\u201d<\/p>\n The chromium iodide investigated in the study belongs to the class of two-dimensional (2D) materials \u2014 systems composed of only a few atomic layers arranged in a crystalline lattice. It has long been known that 2D materials can exhibit properties that differ fundamentally from those of their three-dimensional bulk counterparts, according to a press release.<\/p>\n By slightly twisting two bilayers of chromium iodide with respect to each other, the Stuttgart researchers created a novel magnetic state. \u201cIn contrast, an untwisted bilayer does not exhibit a net external magnetic field, as shown in earlier studies,\u201d says Peng. The twisting gives rise to so-called skyrmions \u2014 nanoscale, topologically protected magnetic structures that are among the smallest and most stable information carriers known in magnetic systems. For the first time, the team succeeded in creating and directly detecting skyrmions in a twisted two-dimensional magnetic material. <\/p>\n