Artificial Spin Ice: A Ratchet Made of Tiny Magnets
A novel functional material based on magnetically coupled nanomagnets known as artificial spin ice has been created by researchers from Mesoscopic Systems (Prof. Laura Heyderman), the University of Glasgow and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). The collective behaviour of the system gives rise to a thermal ratchet, in which the average magnetisation rotates in a single direction – a chiral ice with potential applications in nanoscale devices such as nanomotors, actuators, sensors and data storage.
by
Marc Roland Petitmermet
- Emergent dynamic chirality in a thermally driven artificial spin ratchet, Gliga S, Hrkac G, Donnelly C, Büchi J, Kleibert A, Cui J, Farhan A, Kirk E, Chopdekar RV, Masaki Y, Bingham NS, Scholl A, Stamps RL and Heyderman LJ, Nature Materials, external pageDOI:10.1038/nmat5007call_made (2017).
- external pageNews & views article in Nature Materialscall_made
- external pagePSI scientific highlightcall_made
- external pagePress release by the University of Glasgowcall_made