ScienceDaily has an article on a new approach for creating computer memory:
A research team has created the exotic ring-shaped magnetic effects called skyrmions under ambient room conditions for the first time. The achievement brings skyrmions a step closer to use in real-world data storage as well as other novel magnetic and electronic technologies.
What can skyrmions do for you? These ghostly quantum rings, heretofore glimpsed only under extreme laboratory conditions, just might be the basis for a new type of computer memory that never loses its grip on the data it stores.
Now, thanks to a research team including scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),* the exotic ring-shaped magnetic effects have been coaxed out of the physicist's deepfreeze with a straightforward method that creates magnetic skyrmions under ambient room conditions. The achievement brings skyrmions a step closer for use in real-world data storage as well as other novel magnetic and electronic technologies.
If you have a passing familiarity with particle physics, you might expect skyrmions to be particles; after all, they sound a lot like fermions, a class of particles that includes protons and neutrons. But skyrmions are not fundamental pieces of matter (not even of yogurt); they are effects named after the physicist who proposed them. Until just recently, magnetic skyrmions had only been seen at very low temperatures and under powerful magnetic fields.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gravis on Saturday October 10 2015, @12:48PM
The magnetic force in each individual atom in a magnet--what physicists call their "magnetic moments"--all line up the same way, like tiny compasses all pointing in the same direction. But under extreme conditions, certain magnetic materials (such as MnSi or FeCoSi) can, instead, develop spots where the moments curve and twist, forming a winding, ring-like configuration. These unusual objects possess an elasticity that protects them from outside influence, meaning the data they store would not be corrupted easily, even by stray magnetic fields or physical defects within the material. As a result, magnetic skyrmions present a promising basis for information memory systems and other nanoelectronic devices.
i do wonder how this will hold up in space.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday October 10 2015, @12:52PM
I bet ye can find skyrmions in frozen yogurt. It only need to be a deep frozen yogurt with Bose condensate like properties.
No, silly, full fat yogurt won't do, need to be skimmed... err, sorry, make that skyrmmed.
Not convinced? Just read the wikipedia [wikipedia.org] entry (and weep)
Capisci paisano?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Informative) by zocalo on Saturday October 10 2015, @03:04PM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @01:47PM
A research team has created the exotic ring-shaped magnetic effects called skyrmions under ambient room conditions for the first time.
These ghostly quantum rings, heretofore glimpsed only under extreme laboratory conditions
the exotic ring-shaped magnetic effects have been coaxed out of the physicist's deepfreeze with a straightforward method that creates magnetic skyrmions under ambient room conditions.
Until just recently, magnetic skyrmions had only been seen at very low temperatures and under powerful magnetic fields.
Repeat much?
The achievement brings skyrmions a step closer to use in real-world data storage as well as other novel magnetic and electronic technologies.
just might be the basis for a new type of computer memory that never loses its grip on the data it stores.
The achievement brings skyrmions a step closer for use in real-world data storage as well as other novel magnetic and electronic technologies.
Repeat much?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @08:35PM
Mod parent redundant then underrated 6 times.
Mod parent redundant then underrated 6 times.