Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Spintronics

Shedding light on nanomagnets

Nature Nanotechnology volume 4, pages 623–625 (2009)Cite this article

The magnetism of semiconductor nanocrystals can be controlled by shining light on them, which could have applications in information storage and processing.

A fridge magnet is a simple example of a non-volatile device, because it does not need power to remain stuck to the fridge door. Its magnetic state, which can be considered as stored information, is maintained indefinitely. Advances in non-volatile magnetic storage, using metal-based structures, have allowed a 1,000-fold increase in the capacity of computer hard drives over the past decade. However, this is only a small indication of the possible advances using magnetic materials. Control of magnetism in a wider class of materials, including non-metallic nanostructures, has the potential to have an even broader impact, dramatically altering the way we process and transfer information1,2.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Carrier-mediated magnetism in ZnO nanocrystals doped with Mn.

References

  1. Žutić, I., Fabian, J. & Das Sarma, S. Rev. Mod. Phys. 76, 323–410 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Dery, H. et al. Nature 447, 573–575 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Ochsenbein. et al. Nature Nanotech. 4, 681–687 (2009).

  4. Maekawa, S. (ed.) Concepts in Spin Electronics (Oxford Univ. Press, 2006).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  5. Besombes, L. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 207403 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Fernandez-Rossier, J. & Brey, L. Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 1172001 (2004).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Erwin S. C. et al. Nature 436, 91–94 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Bryan, J. D. & Gamelin, D. R. Prog. Inorg. Chem. 54, 47–126 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Govorov, A. O. Phys. Rev. B 72, 075359 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Petukhov, A. G., Žutić, I. & Erwin, S. C. Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 257202 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Beaulac, R. et al. Science 325, 973–976 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Abolfath, R. M., Petukhov, A. G. & Žutić, I. Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 207202 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Imre, A. et al. Science 311, 205–208 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Kittilstved, K. R. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 037203 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Igor Žutić is in the Department of Physics, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA.,

    Igor Žutić

  2. Andre Petukhov is in the Department of Physics, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA. zigor@buffalo.edu; andre.petukhov@sdsmt.edu,

    Andre Petukhov

  3. andre.petukhov@sdsmt.edu,

    Andre Petukhov

Authors
  1. Igor Žutić
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andre Petukhov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Žutić, I., Petukhov, A. Shedding light on nanomagnets. Nature Nanotech 4, 623–625 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.286

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.286

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Find nanotechnology articles, nanomaterial data and patents all in one place. Visit Nano by Nature Research