Working at nanoscale dimensions, billionths of a meter in size, a team of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) revealed a new way to measure high-speed fluctuations in magnetic materials. Knowledge obtained by these new measurements, published in Nano Letters, could be used to advance technologies ranging from traditional computing to the emerging field of quantum computing. 

Many materials undergo phase transitions characterized by temperature-dependent stepwise changes of important fundamental properties. Understanding materials’ behavior near a critical transition temperature is key to developing new technologies that take advantage of unique physical properties. In this study, the team used a nanoscale quantum sensor to measure spin fluctuations near a phase transition in a magnetic thin film. Thin films with magnetic properties at room temperature are essential for data storage, sensors, and electronic devices because their magnetic properties can be precisely controlled and manipulated.

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