Projects / Programmes
New metallic materials for thermal storage of digital information
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 1.02.01 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Physics |
Physics of condesed matter |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| P002 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Physics |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 1.03 |
Natural Sciences |
Physical sciences |
thermal memory cell, thermal inscription of digital information, new metals-based materials
Researchers (13)
Organisations (3)
Abstract
In 2009, the proposers of this project have announced a scientific-technological breakthrough in the field of digital data storage by discovering a concept of a new kind of memory element, a thermal memory cell, where a byte of digital information could be stored into the storage medium by pure thermal manipulation in the absence of an external magnetic or electric field. The achievement has been reported in the publication "A Thermal Memory Cell" (J. Dolinšek et al., J. Appl. Phys. 106, 043917 (2009)), whereas the physical background of the thermal storage phenomenon has been published by the same group in 2008 (J. Dolinšek et al., Phys. Rev. B 77, 064430 (2008)). We have patented the concept of the thermal memory cell in an European patent " Verfahren zur Speicherung digitaler Information nebst Speicherelement : Europäische Patentanmeldung : EP 2 207 177 A2 : Anmeldenummer 09179123.6. Düsseldorf: Europäisches Patentamt: = European Patent Office: = Office européen des brevets, 14. 12. 2009. 12 str. [COBISS.SI-ID 15669593]. Thermally-written digital information in a thermal memory cell represents a conceptually new kind of a memory element, after the electrical memory (dynamic random access memory – DRAM), the magnetic memory (hard disk) and the electromagnetic memory (compact disk – CD), where the digital information is written by an electric, magnetic or electromagnetic (laser) field. The discovery of the thermal memory cell concept announces the development of a new branch of digital information technology – thermal computing – where mathematical operations will be performed by pure temperature manipulation, in the absence of an electric or magnetic field.
A thermal memory cell is based on specific solid-state materials, where the magnetic or electric dipole moments of the electrons and ions are arranged in a frustrated configuration, which cannot minimize the internal energy. A prototype thermal memory cell was developed from two kinds of magnetically frustrated materials, the Taylor-phase intermetallic Al3Mn and Al3(Mn,Fe) and the spin glass Cu-Mn, and arbitrary ASCII characters, representing text in computers, were successfully written by pure thermal manipulation. In these materials, thermal inscription of the digital information was possible at low temperatures below 35 K, which hinders their application in the technology. However, there exists a realistic possibility to develop thermal memory cells from other magnetically frustrated materials like magnetic quasicrystals, complex metallic alloys, geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets, superparamagnetic nanoparticles, spin glasses and electrically frustrated systems (orientational glasses and disordered ferroelectrics), where the thermal inscription should be possible up to the room temperature or above. This should enable the application of the thermal memory cell concept at ambient conditions. The primary goal of this project is to develop new materials for the thermal storage of information from the above-mentioned materials classes, where the digital information could be thermally stored up to the room temperature or higher, possibly in the form of a sixteen-bit byte of information. An optimum material should satisfy the following requirements: (1) quick thermal inscription up to room temperature, (2) durable thermal inscription before the readout, (3) small volume of the material needed for the fabrication of a thermal memory cell and (4) low cost of the material for a widespread use. The thermal memory cell concept can also be employed in other scientific disciplines: cold transition-metal-rich particles, contained in interstellar and interplanetary dust may enable retrieving their thermal history and provide valuable information e.g. on the formation of late-type stars or Jupiter-like planets, and on early stages of the galaxy.
Significance for science
Thermal memory for digital application represents a conceptually new scientific field. The results of our project that were published and presented at scientific meetings are important for the development of new materials, too. We reported about the thermal memory effect found in multiferroic material for the first time, and showed how a digital information can be stored in them.
Significance for the country
During our research of new materials for TMC in the frame of the project we continued our collaborations with several recognized institutions around the world (eg. Institut fur Festkorperforschung, Forschungszentrum Julich, Germany, Institut Jean Lamour, France, Hokkaido University, Japan, KBSI, Korea) and establish some new contacts (eg. University of Zagreb). In the research three young researchers were involved and several master's and graduate's thesis were completed.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
