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posted by janrinok on Saturday October 10 2015, @12:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-can't-even-pronounce-it dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Gravis on Saturday October 10 2015, @12:48PM

    by Gravis (4596) on Saturday October 10 2015, @12:48PM (#247753)

    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

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday October 10 2015, @12:52PM (#247754) Journal

    But skyrmions are not fundamental pieces of matter (not even of yogurt);

    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)

    In field theory, skyrmions are homotopically non-trivial classical solutions of a nonlinear sigma model with a non-trivial target manifold topology – hence, they are topological solitons. An example occurs in chiral models of mesons, where the target manifold is a homogeneous space of the structure group (SU(N)L X SU(N)R)/SU(N)diag where SU(N)L and SU(N)R are the left and right parts of the SU(N) matrix, and SU(N)diag is the diagonal subgroup.

    ...A topological term can be added to the chiral Lagrangian, whose integral depends only upon the homotopy class; this results in superselection sectors in the quantised model. A skyrmion can be approximated by a soliton of the Sine-Gordon equation; after quantisation by the Bethe ansatz or otherwise, it turns into a fermion interacting according to the massive Thirring model.

    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

      by zocalo (302) on Saturday October 10 2015, @03:04PM (#247777)
      Slightly obscure reference there, but frozen Icelandic Skyr [wikipedia.org] can be rather tasty (normally it has a similar thickness to Greek yogurt), although I drank quite a lot of the thinner flavoured version as a beverage when I was last there as well.
      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @01:47PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @01:47PM (#247763)

    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

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2015, @08:35PM (#247863)

      Mod parent redundant then underrated 6 times.

      Mod parent redundant then underrated 6 times.