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Illustration of the preferred magnetic orientation of an iron atom on a specially prepared copper surface. The ability of an atom to maintain its magnetic orientation can help determine that atom's suitability for storing data.

Illustration of the preferred magnetic orientation of an iron atom on a specially prepared copper surface. The ability of an atom to maintain its magnetic orientation can help determine that atom's suitability for storing data.
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Actual scanning tunneling microscopy images of the naphthalocyanine molecule in the Schematic three-dimensional image of a molecular Nobel laureates Heinrich Rohrer (left) and Gerd Binnig (right) of IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory, shown here in 1981 with a first-generation scanning tunneling microscope (STM). IBM's Scanning Tunneling Microscope in 1981 revealed for the first time the reconstruction of silicon atoms at the surface, here in an image enhanced by computer processing.
Schematic top view of the switching process that involves the two hydrogen atoms located in a cavity at the center of the molecule. Upon injection of a voltage pulse, the two hydrogen atoms change position, as indicated in the left-hand-side image. Illustration of the preferred magnetic orientation of an iron atom on a specially prepared copper surface. The ability of an atom to maintain its magnetic orientation can help determine that atom's suitability for storing data.
Article Summary
IBM today announced two major scientific achievements in the field of nanotechnology that could one day lead to new kinds of devices and structures built from a few atoms or molecules. Such Lilliputian, atomic-scale devices might be used as future computer chips, storage devices, sensors and for applications nobody has imagined yet. The work will be unveiled tomorrow in two reports being published by the journal Science. In the first report, IBM scientists describe major progress in probing a property called magnetic anisotropy in individual atoms. This fundamental measurement has important technological consequences because it determines an atom’s ability to store information. Previously, nobody had been able to measure the magnetic anisotropy of a single atom.

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