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Researchers from Indiana University (Bloomington) disclosed this week that they've prepared several new single-molecule magnets. In data storage applications, such magnets would have important advantages over the nanoscale magnetic particles—of metals, metal oxides, and alloys—that are being developed for high-density memory systems. Among the single-molecule magnet pluses would be uniform size, solubility in organic solvents, and readily alterable peripheral ligands, among others.

"Currently it is a problem to make really small, nanoscale magnetic particles from iron, iron oxide, or the other magnetic materials known to date," Indiana chemist George Christou told a session of the American Chemical Society this week in San Francisco. He noted that his new magnets, which are based on manganese, are much smaller than the magnetic particles currently used in information storage, but nevertheless are magnets at low temperatures. "So each molecule can be considered an ultra-small magnetic particle," he said in a statement. "And this promises access to the ultimate high-density information storage devices."

IBM last year reported a new hard-drive record of 3 gigabits of digital information in one square centimeter of area using a known cobalt magnetic material. "The much smaller size of our molecules means we could get 30,000 billion of them into one square centimeter, and thus a storage density of 30,000 billion bits (or 30 terabits) is feasible," Christou claimed. This is 10,000 times greater than the current best by IBM. The research challenge, he added, is to find better single-molecule magnets that function at higher temperatures.

For more information, contact Christou at 812-855-2399.

Edited by Gordon Graff