Ion irradiation creates an asymmetric potential or 'ratchet' for
the main walls (visualised as light-yellow spheres). The bit
with a magnetic coating is shifted one position to the left by
sequentially positioning a field upwards and downwards.
Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology in The
Netherlands and the FOM Foundation have successfully made
“magnetic domain-wall ratchet” memory, a computer memory that is
built up from moving bits of magnetized areas. This memory
potentially offers many advantages compared to standard hard
disks, such as a higher speed, lower electricity consumption and
much longer life. Using concentrated ion bundles the researchers
have influenced the magnetic wires the bits move through, and
they have successfully controlled bits at the nanometre scale
and subsequently constructed a new memory. The research results
were published online by Nature Nanotechnology on Sunday 15
July. The bits in a nanowire can be conceptualized as areas that
can have two possible magnetic dir