The data packed as magnetic regions on hard disks will fade in just a few decades, as atoms vibrate and reorient themselves.
But an iron nanoparticle sheathed inside a carbon nanotube could form a protected data element, whose position would remain stable at room temperature for more than a billion years, report Alex Zettl of the University of California, Berkeley, and his team.
By applying an electric pulse, the researchers controllably shift the nanoparticle back and forth. Its position — corresponding to a '0' or a '1' — can be easily read by measuring electrical resistance across the nanotube.
A device made of bundles of individually positionable nanotubes could form an ultra-high-density data store, readable for any practical time scale, the researchers think.
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Materials: Everlasting memory. Nature 459, 143 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/459143a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/459143a