Greet your Nanite overlords.
Posted on 01/13/2012 5:03:47 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Researchers have successfully stored a single data bit in only 12 atoms.
Currently it takes about a million atoms to store a bit on a modern hard-disk, the researchers from IBM say.
They believe this is the world's smallest magnetic memory bit.
According to the researchers, the technique opens up the possibility of producing much denser forms of magnetic computer memory than today's hard disk drives and solid state memory chips.
"Roughly every two years hard drives become denser," research lead author Sebastian Loth told the BBC.
"The obvious question to ask is how long can we keep going. And the fundamental physical limit is the world of atoms.
"The approach that we used is to jump to the very end, check if we can store information in one atom, and if not one atom, how many do we need?" he said.
Below 12 atoms the researchers found that the bits randomly lost information, owing to quantum effects.
A bit can have a value of 0 or 1 and is the most basic form of information in computation.
"We kept building larger structures until we emerged out of the quantum mechanical into the classical data storage regime and we reached this limit at 12 atoms."
The groups of atoms, which were kept at very low temperatures, were arranged using a scanning tunnelling microscope. Researchers were subsequently able to form a byte made of eight of the 12-atom bits.
Central to the research has been the use of materials with different magnetic properties.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
magnetic memory PinG
I can’t wait till the day I need a tunneling electron microscope to find the DVD I’m looking for.
Big deal. I made zero with no atoms.
Nano-bots will soon be gnawing on us like bedbugs.
can’t quite seem to dismiss the “evil empire” connotation when thinking of IBM.
It’s always wise to wait for the next generation of a product. I’m waiting for the 10 atoms.
How many bits can fit on the end of a pin?
so long as they remain virtual, an infinite number.
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