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10. May 2013
Young scientists from CEITEC BUT (Central European Institute of Technology, BUT) and IPE BUT (Institute of Physical Engineering, BUT) have discovered new ways of controlling magnetic vortices, which can be used for example in fabrication of a new kind of computer memory. The Brno scientists worked on the experimental verification of the corresponding theory with their colleagues from the University of California in San Diego and the synchrotron laboratory in Berkeley. The results of their research are so interesting and innovative that they have been published in the May edition of the prestigious scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Two young scientists, Vojtěch Uhlíř and Michal Urbánek from CEITEC BUT and IPE BUT in Brno, studied the properties and behaviour of magnetic vortices in their research. Vortices are physical phenomena found in many forms and scales, from tornadoes or water vortices to vortices at nanometre scale, which can be found in superconducting materials or nanomagnets. “We managed to rapidly and in a controlled way switch the spin circulation in magnetic vortices, which opens the door to a multitude of possible applications, especially in the field of IT. Memory cells made from magnetic vortices make it possible to store twice as much information, can work several times faster, and unlike in current memory cells the information is not lost from the operating memory when disconnected from a power supply,” says Michal Urbánek, co-discoverer and member of the Fabrication and Characterisation of Nanostructures research group at CEITEC BUT, when describing this unique discovery. “It will no longer be possible to drink your morning coffee while your computer starts up, but on the other hand you won’t lose unsaved data if there is a power cut, “ adds Urbánek with a smile.
Brno scientists from the group of Prof. Tomáš Šikola carried out the research together with their colleagues from the University of California in San Diego and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. To test the theoretical basis it was necessary to carry out sophisticated experiments on the unique Advanced Light Source (ALS) synchrotron in Berkeley. “Just the preparation of the samples with magnetic nanodiscs is very demanding. The preparation of one sample takes about twenty hours, and the success rate of preparation is around ten percent. Actual experiments on the synchrotron take place over several days of non-stop operation in shifts, so experimental time is extremely valuable,” states Urbánek. Further months after completion of the experiments were taken up with evaluation of the results. „We spent many hours ‘Skyping’ between Brno and San Diego. The extraordinary significance of our research was confirmed by the publication of our results in the prestigious journal Nature Nanotechnology,“ explains Urbánek.
The Brno scientists have been studying the phenomenon of magnetic vortices since 2010, and since June 2011, in addition to the IPE BUT, also at CEITEC. They plan to continue with this research. Thanks to the EU funding allocated to the CEITEC project in June 2011, they have gained financial and material support and in 2014 they will move to a newly built “high-tech“ laboratory at CEITEC.