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The discovery revolves around juxtaposing atoms: the researchers found that in lining up a string of manganese atoms, the interaction between their magnetic spins would result in either no net magnetism for even numbers or a net magnetism for odd numbers.

This form of binary switching could be used in data storage, by flipping the collective orientation of numbers of magnetically coupled atoms. The researchers will also investigate the possibilities this opens up in creating spin-based wires, some 260,000 times

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smaller than the conventional design in silicon.

'This kind of exploratory research is essential for the long-term future of the computer industry,' said Gian-Luca Bona, manager of science and technology at IBM Almaden. 'Sometime in the next couple of decades, it will be impossibly difficult to continue improving transistors and other traditional microelectronic circuit elements by simply shrinking them. We will then need alternative structures and, perhaps, altogether different ways of computing. Techniques like this can help us gain the knowledge needed to create those alternatives.'

The positioning of individual atoms is possible using IBM's low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope. The researchers claim this is the first time it has been possible to move individual atoms in this way.

'We have developed a window into the atomic heart of magnetism,' said Andreas Heinrich, research staff member at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. 'We can now position atoms and then measure and control their magnetic interactions within precisely designed structures.'