Researchers have demonstrated a magnetic phenomenon that promises to pave the way for "instant on" PCs, and to boost the storage capacity of hard drives.

The team of scientists from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona worked in collaboration with researchers from the Argonne National Laboratory in the US and the Spintec Laboratory in France.

They claim to have produced microscopic magnetic states, known as "displaced vortex states", that will allow an increase in the size of Magnetic Ram, which is not deleted when the computer is switched off.

According to the boffins, MRam will allow "instant on" PCs that require no boot up time.

Current fast but volatile SRam and DRam cannot store operating system and program information when they are powered down, while non-volatile Flash memories are too slow for this purpose.

MRam, which is still being developed, is fast and non-volatile, but until now has been limited by a relatively low storage capacity.

However, the magnetic phenomenon could be useful in the quest for the ideal type of memory, i.e. MRam with large storage capacity.

The "displaced vortex states" are small circular movements of just a few thousandths of a millimetre that form in the tiny zones where the data is stored. The information on hard drives is normally saved by orientating these zones in specific directions.

"The zones pointing upwards, for example, codify a 1, and those pointing downwards a 0. The smaller and more compact these zones, the greater the capacity of the hard drive," the academics reported.

"But if they are too close together, the magnetic field created by one can affect the neighbouring zone and wipe the data.

"However, if the field is saved in a whirlpool form, in "vortex state", it does not leave the tiny zone to which it is confined and does not affect the neighbouring data, thus making it possible for a much larger hard drive capacity."

The scientists have achieved the vortex states on small circular structures that are smaller than a micrometre (a thousandth of a millimetre) and combine layers of material with opposing magnetic properties: a layer of ferromagnetic material and a layer of antiferromagnetic material.

The researchers explained that the configuration of the magnets is new because the vortex states are "displaced", i.e. once the magnetic field is no longer applied, the eye of the whirlpool moves off-centre with regard to the circular structure on which it is formed.

This seemingly insignificant detail is the key to applying the technique to increasing the capacity not only of hard drives but of MRam that is fast and non-volatile, but which has suffered from small storage capacity.

"The phenomenon could also be applied to other fields, such as improving the read heads of hard drives," said to Jordi Sort, a physicist at Universitat Autònoma and the coordinator of the research.

"But the reason that motivated us is even more fundamental: this is a very peculiar physical state that can be observed only in extremely small magnetic structures."