IBM has developed the single-atom storage technology. Can iPod store 30 thousand movies?

Can you think of "Stuffing" 30 thousand movies into products of the same size as iPod?

This Thursday,IBMScientists said they learned how to use a single atom to make a lighterStorageProductTechnologyThey have taken a step closer to this goal.

Understanding and utilizing the characteristics of atoms is the key to using nanometer technology. One of the basic features of each atom is like a small magnet, said Cyrus, a scientist at the IBM Almaden Research Center. If you canPersistenceIf the magnetic direction of the magnet is stable, it can be used to store information, which is the working principle of the hard disk.WeThe research topic is how to perform such operations on a single atom.

Gales and his colleague andrears used a special microscope developed by IBM in their research on this feature. Andrears said we are currently able to observe the iron atom on a copper surface and change its magnetic direction.

Celes said they are looking for an atom that can maintain magnetic stability for a long time. We already have two ideas, but we don't know which one will succeed. Our long-term goal isDevice.

They have been evaluating a molecule because they noticed that it has an obvious switch.Capability. Andrears said this discovery is extremely important because development actions do not change the molecular structure. Molecular switches can be used to store information and generate ultra-fast, ultra-small computer chips.

These two findings may become the foundation of future computing products. Andrears said that in the 1970 s, computing devices of the size of a house had the same processing power as the current mobile phone.