Physicists finally see strange magnetic vortices predicted 50 years ago
Physicists finally see strange magnetic vortices predicted 50 years ago
A team of physicists has experimentally confirmed a long-predicted sequence of exotic magnetic phases in an atomically thin material. When cooled, the material forms tiny magnetic vortices before transitioning into a second ordered magnetic state—exactly as predicted by a famous theoretical model from the 1970s. Observing both phases together for the first time validates key ideas about how magnetism behaves in two dimensions. The findings could help inspire ultracompact technologies built on nanoscale magnetic control.
When researchers at UT Austin coaxed an atomically thin sheet of nickel phosphorus trisulfide to enter a special magnetic phase, called the BKT phase, the magnetic orientations of individual atoms formed swirling patterns called vortices.
Materials can behave in surprising ways when they are thinned down layer by layer until they are only a single atom thick. In a new study published in Nature Materials, physicists led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin observed a sequence of unusual magnetic states in an ultrathin material. Their experiments confirm a long standing theoretical model of two dimensional magnetism first proposed in the 1970s. The team says the discovery could eventually help inspire extremely compact technologies that rely on controlling magnetism at very small scales.
The newly observed sequence involves two important changes in magnetic behavior that occur as certain materials are cooled toward absolute zero. While scientists have previously detected each transition separately, this study is the first to observe the entire sequence unfolding in a single system.
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