Bistability in Atomic-Scale Antiferromagnets

Abstract

Structured Memories High-density magnetic memory is generally produced by using ferromagnetic materials. As the density increases and the memory elements become closer together, stray fields can result in cross-talk and a corruption of the stored information. Antiferromagetic structures, however, are expected to be relatively insensitive to magnetic fields and so should, in principle, allow the elements to be packed in even closer. Loth et al. (p. 196 ) carried out low-temperature experiments to construct antiferromagnetic structures atom by atom. Electrical switching of the magnetic states was observed, and data could be robustly stored on the structure for several hours, albeit at low temperature.