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Nature 432, 162 (11 November 2004) | doi:10.1038/432162a; Published online 10 November 2004

Condensed-matter physics:  A magnetic pendulum

Claude Chappert1 & Thibaut Devolder1

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Where two oppositely magnetized regions meet, there is a so-called domain wall. Under the right conditions, this wall can be made to oscillate like a pendulum, suggesting a new approach to electronics.

On page 203 of this issue, Saitoh et al.1 provide a beautiful demonstration of a magnetic domain wall oscillating just as a pendulum would do under gravity. A domain wall separates two uniformly magnetized regions and is predicted, at low excitation energies, to behave like a particle with a finite mass.

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