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Physics

Magnetics

News and Updates

anyon teaser image

Anyone for Anyons?

Researchers have demonstrated that a strange type of quantum particle called the anyon, believed to exist in only two dimensions, can also be created in one dimension. Further studies exploring different types of one-dimensional anyons could bring scientists one step closer to using the particles as a fundamental unit of memory in a quantum computer. A team led by Harvard scientists Joyce Kwan and
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Cassie Stoffer smiles while wearing safety glasses and standing next to a large metal tank with many pipes and wires attached to it.

Spotlight: Cassie Stoffer Helps Run Calibration and Measurement Services Related to Magnetic Resonance

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Tiny red cylinder probes are presented in front of a much larger ice cube.

Spotlight: Shape-Shifting Probes Will Help Improve MRI Imaging

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magnetometer illustration

NIST Researchers Use Cellphone Compass to Measure Tiny Concentrations of Compounds Important for Human Health

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Projects and Programs

A current (white arrow) flowing through a tantalum film generates a current of spins (dark blue arrows) that impinges on the ferromagnetic cobalt iron boron layer and causes the magnetization (gold arrow) to charge directions (light blue arrow).

Theory of Spin-Orbit Torque

Completed
A ferromagnetic material such as iron acquires its magnetization because the magnetic orientation of its constituent atoms all line up in the same way. Because individual electrons also have an intrinsic magnetic moment – which is often referred to as the electron “spin” - they can interact with

Magnetic Random Access Memory

Ongoing
Focus areas include (1) the fundamental understanding of the interactions between spin and magnetic materials and materials with large spin-orbit scattering; (2) the nonlinear dynamics of both individual and interacting nanoscale magnetic systems; and (3) the role of thermal noise in nanomagnetic
Simulation of FMRFM data

Nanomagnet Dynamics

Completed
The motion of the magnetization in magnetic nanostructures is at the core of important technologies such as computer hard drives and magnetic memory chips. Additionally, emerging technologies such as magnetic logic and second-generation spin-torque memory chips write and read "bits" of information