Applying a localized pressure improves the control of metamagnetic materials at the nanoscale. Researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona and the ALBA Synchrotron, in collaboration with the UB and ICN2, have developed a new technique to locally modify the properties of a metamagnetic material. The method consists in applying local pressure to the surface of the material using nanometric needles and allows a much more easy and local modification than current methods. The research opens the door to a more accurate and precise control of magnetic materials and allows to improve the architecture and capacity of magnetic digital memories.
For the first time researchers have observed directly sound-driven spin waves (magnetoacoustic waves) and have revealed its nature. Results show that these magnetization waves can go up to longer distances (up to centimeters) and have larger amplitudes than the commonly known spin waves. The study, published in Phys. Rev. Lett., is carried out by researchers from the University of Barcelona (UB), the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), and the ALBA Synchrotron, in collaboration with the Paul-Drude-Institut in Berlin.
Researchers have obtained a flexible tape of an antiferromagnetic material able to store information in a more robust and secure way than the ubiquitous ferromagnetic materials. This innovation may have application where flexibility and data storage robustness are required, such as credit or identification cards.
Researchers have studied the dynamic changes in the distribution of cobalt and iron atoms during the growth of mixed cobalt-iron oxides on a metallic substrate at the CIRCE beamline in the ALBA Synchrotron. This is the first time that growth at such high temperatures (1.000 ºC) has been followed in real space and real time with synchrotron radiation, providing valuable chemical information.
Researchers have synthesized and studied by a combination of soft X-ray techniques platelets of strontium hexaferrite allowing them to establish the differences and similarities between their synthesized nanostructures and commercial powders. Most of the experiments have been performed within a collaboration among three beamlines of the ALBA Synchrotron.
