NIST scientists image ring magnets using SEMPA. (News Briefs).Researchers at NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. , in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, Thin Film Magnetism Group, have used the NIST Scanning Electron Microscopy electron microscopy Technique that allows examination of samples too small to be seen with a light microscope. Electron beams have much smaller wavelengths than visible light and hence higher resolving power. with Polarization Analysis (SEMPA SEMPA Society of Emergency Medicine Physician Assistants SEMPA Scanning Electron Microscopy with Polarization Analysis SEMPA Software Engineering Methods for Parallel Scientific Applications SEMPA Scanning Electron Microscope and Particle Analyzer ) facility to directly image the magnetic domain structure of mesoscopic ring magnets. These micrometer micrometer (mīkrŏm`ətər, mī`krōmē'tər). 1 Instrument used for measuring extremely small distances. sized rings and discs, patterned out of cobalt thin-films, are the basis for new types of nonvolatile, magnetic random access memories, and the SEMPA measurements provided the first images of various magnetic structures occurring in the magnets. Some of the magnetic structures that were observed agree with predictions based on earlier, non-spatially-resolved, magnetization measurements of these films. However, additional, unexpected domain wall structures were also found to exist. Knowledge about the nanoscale At nanometer size. Any device only a few nanometers in size is nanoscale. See nanotechnology and nanometer. magnetic structure of the various magnetic states and how the states switch from one to another provides critical information needed to determine whether these patterned magnetic structures will make useful, reproducible magnetic memories. CONTACT: John Unguris, (301) 975-3712; john. unguris@nist.gov. |
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