Speaker
Dr
Fabian Natterer
(EPFL)
Description
The bit of a magnetic storage device is composed of hundreds of thousands of atoms. Although this number was continuously reduced with advancing miniaturization, the physical limit of one single atom per bit has remained a mere though experiment. Here we show that a single Holmium atom on magnesium oxide represents this fundamental limit. We read the single atom magnet via tunnel-magneto resistance or EPR and write its state using a current pulse from a scanning tunneling microscope. A prototypical 2-Ho bit array shows that the single atom magnets independently retain their magnetic state for hours.
Primary author
Dr
Fabian Natterer
(EPFL)
