Meeting the demand for more data storage in smaller volumes
means using materials made up of ever-smaller magnets, or nanomagnets. One
promising material for a potential new generation of recording media is an
alloy of iron and platinum with an ordered crystal structure. Researchers led
by Professor Kai Liu and graduate student Dustin Gilbert at the University of
California, Davis, have now found a convenient way to make these alloys and
tailor their properties.
"The relatively convenient synthesis conditions, along
with the tunable magnetic properties, make these materials highly desirable for
future magnetic recording technologies," said Liu, a professor of physics.
The iron-platinum alloy has the ability to retain information even at extremely
small nanomagnet sizes, and it is resistant to heat effects.