Electrical control of single atom magnets

9 December 2013

When directly on a metal surface, the magnetism (black arrows) of a single cobalt atom (orange circles) is screened by strong interactions with the surrounding metallic sea (blue). By moving these atoms towards the centre of an island of thin insulator material (white), we can gradually decrease that strength of that interaction, which results in a remarkable enhancement of the magnetic anisotropy.

Image credit: Alfaro Cuevas (alfarocuevas.blogspot.com), CC-BY-ND

The energy needed to change the magnetic orientation of a single atom - which determines its magnetic stability and therefore its usefulness in a variety of future device applications - can be modified by varying the atom's electrical coupling to nearby metals.

This striking result was published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology by an international group of scientists working at the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) at UCL, the Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (Portugal), the University of Zaragoza (Spain), and the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics (Germany).

Read the full story on the UCL Quantum website

Picture credit: Alfaro Cuevas (alfarocuevas.blogspot.com). CC-BY-ND

MAPS Newsletters

The MAPS Faculty Focus is published monthly and contains news, updates, and opportunities for MAPS staff.

Newsletter Archive

Open Days

The Faculty participates in a number of open days throughout the academic year, including the UCL Undergraduate Open Days and the UCL Graduate Open Day.

Friends of Out@UCL

Professor Ivan Parkin - Dean, UCL Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
"I fully support the aims of the Friends of Out@UCL campaign. I have personal experience of the need for such a campaign and the difficulties that the LGBTQ+ community face." Read more...

Snapshots from Space History

Online exhibition of historic space photos from the faculty's planetary science archives.

See the photos