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Abstract

A data storage device comprises an array of parallel magnetic nanowires each having a uniaxial anisotropy with an easy axis substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the nanowire and which is rotated about the longitudinal axis along the length of the nanowire, and a magnetisation state that follows the easy axis, where each nanowire has a data input element for nucleating magnetic domains separated by domain walls in an end of the nanowire, the sequence of domains and walls representing binary data, and a data read-out element operable to detect the magnetisation at an end of the nanowire, the device also comprising a magnetic field source operable to generate a magnetic field rotating in a plane substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the nanowires so as to propagate domain walls along the at least one nanowire. Reversal of the direction of rotation of the magnetic field reverses the propagation direction of the domain walls, so that data can be moved in either direction along the nanowires.

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First Claim