Browse Physics

Thermal magnetic fluctuations, usually thought of as a barrier to magnetic information storage and processing, can be harnessed to make green, low-energy magnetic applications a possibility.

Experiments demonstrate that a single electron can inhabit a site on a graphite surface where the carbon atom is missing. Such electrons could lead to new and useful types of magnetism.

New experiments indicate that the intrinsic regime of the anomalous Hall effect is independent of scattering.

Crystalline order is not a necessary condition for magnetic quantum tunneling in a molecular magnet.

Unconventional superconductors in the proximity of a topological insulator exhibit zero-energy Majorana surface states.

The magnetic state of a multiferroic device can be controlled purely by an electric field—a property that could greatly reduce overheating in data storage devices.

A dual spin valve with antiparallel outer layers is used to demonstrate a new form of current-dependent giant magnetoresistance.

Structurally soft materials—like shape memory alloys—are well suited to making epitaxial films.

First-principles calculations explore how magnetic interactions impede the formation of atomically thin wires.

A theory of novel phase formation near quantum critical points suggests that large fluctuations lead to magnetic analogs of inhomogeneous superconductivity.

A microscopic study of magnetic nanoislands on a surface challenges the widely held view that all atoms in a relaxing nanoparticle flip their spins in unison.

Magnetic switching is typically a continuous process, where a field pulse rotates a magnet from up to down, but it is now possible to do this faster — and with all-optical methods — by first quenching the magnetization to zero and then repolarizing it in the opposite direction.

The demonstration of all-optical spin-echo measurements may provide a route toward decoupling spins from noise sources.

The fractional quantum Hall effect, thought to be special to two dimensions, may also flourish in three, providing a possible explanation for anomalies observed in certain 3D materials in high magnetic fields.

The finding of a new duality theory could contribute to solving problems in quantum magnetism.

A feeble light beam reverses the magnetism of small regions of a magnetic semiconductor, raising new possibilities for using light in magnetic data storage.

Transport measurements show evidence of a topologically nontrivial structure—a lattice of skyrmions—in intermetallic $\text{MnSi}$.

Density-functional calculations provide a comprehensive picture of how magnetic order evolves with doping in two iron pnictide compounds.

A quantum dot refrigerator that cools an electron gas close to $100\text{mK}$ may allow experimentalists to better probe electron-electron interactions in quantum confined systems.

An advance in magnetic resonance force microscopy enhances its chemical sensitivity and opens up the possibility of identifying different organic substances at the nanoscale.