Single-atom magnets to pave the way for smaller and denser storage devices: IBM

ZDNet ^ | March 9, 2017 | Tas Bindi

[aquila48]

IBM researchers have found a way to store one bit of data in a magnet consisting of just one atom, the company announced on Wednesday.

Prior to the discovery, the smallest bistable magnetic bits consisted of 3 to 12 atoms, IBM said, and hard drives use about 10,000 atoms to store a single bit.

The ability to read and write one bit of data on one atom creates new possibilities for developing smaller and denser storage devices, according to IBM. The company said the discovery makes it conceivable to store an entire library of 35 million songs on a device no bigger than a credit card.

"Magnetic bits lie at the heart of hard-disk drives, tape and next-generation magnetic memory," said Christopher Lutz, lead nanoscience researcher at IBM Research Almaden in San Jose, California. "We conducted this research to understand what happens when you shrink technology down to the most fundamental extreme -- the atomic scale."

Earlier this month, researchers at IBM Research Almaden announced that they had developed an electron-spin resonance (ESR) sensor consisting of a single iron atom on the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), allowing scientists to measure the magnetic field of individual atoms by placing the sensor right next to it. The single-atom magnet was created using the ESR sensor fitted on the STM

[Bobalu]

This is very cool!

I want a 100 Terabyte thumbdrive :-)

[VideoDoctor]

We're heading toward the "infinite" memory storage device.

Buy one.. use it for life.

[wally_bert]

Lotus Notes still won’t work right.

[brucedickinson]

now do it with quarks. I’m never satisfied I guess

[super7man]

I read the article and missed the “So all the big problems are solved and now it is just a matter of getting this new technology into production.” ;o(

I also suspect that this technology is also only viable at near liquid Helium tempertures. Carry THAT around in your pocket.

[nevergore]

Hi! Is that a helium cooled thumbdrive in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

[chrisser]

Is that a helium cooled thumbdrive in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

That needs to be put on a t-shirt.

[Blue Highway]

Whatever happened to the technology I read about in pc magazine in 1995 where they were able to store terabytes odd data in single cells of human tissue?

[G Larry]

“Buy one.. use it for life.”

Uh...you might wanna copyright that...

...use it for LIFE

as in Bionics!

[daniel1212]

I also suspect that this technology is also only viable at near liquid Helium tempertures. Carry THAT around in your pocket.

The STM also uses liquid helium for cooling that allows the atoms to retain their magnetic orientations long enough to be written and read...while the discovery suggests a path towards data storage at the atomic level, IBM admitted that the way in which individual magnetic centres can be accessed is still unclear. - http://www.zdnet.com/article/single-atom-magnet-to-pave-the-way-for-smaller-and-denser-storage-devices-ibm/?loc=newsletter_large_thumb_featured&ftag=TRE17cfd61&bhid=22887342922412886840414251141773

Not exactly a USB flash drive.

[daniel1212]

Whatever happened to the technology I read about in pc magazine in 1995 where they were able to store terabytes odd data in single cells of human tissue?

Another recent breakthrough in storage technology at Columbia University and the New York Genome Center could allow us to store 215 petabytes of data into one gram of DNA. While practical applications are years away, DNA holds promise for data storage because of its superior density to tape, disk, and optical media. It can also store information for thousands of years when kept in the right conditions. - http://www.zdnet.com/article/single-atom-magnet-to-pave-the-way-for-smaller-and-denser-storage-devices-ibm/?loc=newsletter_large_thumb_featured&ftag=TRE17cfd61&bhid=22887342922412886840414251141773

How would such relate to Biometric passport tech, "also known as an e-passport, ePassport or a digital passport, is a combined paper and electronic passport that contains biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of travelers. It uses contactless smart card technology, including a microprocessor chip ..". - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_passport

Globalists and UN Push Mandatory Biometric ID for All Nov 9, 2015 - “By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration,” reads ... to implement universal biometric identification for all of humanity by 2030. ..... as well as set up a biometric ID system, and insert chips into people

Enhanced Drivers Licenses: What Are They? | Homeland SecurityAug 20, 2015 - a vicinity Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip that will signal a secure system to pull up your biographic and biometric data for the CBP