Nano Magnets

Researchers recently developed a magnet that’s only one atom thick. The breakthrough would allow vastly larger amounts of data storage and could be a gamechanger for quantum computing.

The new magnet is made of zinc oxide and cobalt in a precise ratio that fine tunes the magnetic intensity. The resulting flexible sheet could be used to develop spintronics – devices that encode data using electron spin rather than charge. It’s widely believed that spintronic devices are a key component of future quantum computers.

In addition, the material does not need to be supercooled like other nanoscale magnets. It’s stable at room temperatures and can be heated to the boiling point of water without losing its magnetic properties. This, in itself, eliminates a huge obstacle to the use of nanomagnets for commercial applications.

Next steps will involve studying how the magnets interact with other two-dimensional materials. The goal would be to stack them like a deck of cards with other single-atom compounds to tailor their properties for specific functions.