Ink aids molecular memory

A technique which could help store trillions of bits of information per square inch and help make quantum computing a possibility is being developed by researchers at

and

(UCL).

According to Dr Sandrine Heutz, of Imperial’s Department of Materials, the technique which involves controlling the magnetic properties of a commonly used blue dye, could revolutionise computer processing power and information storage.

Metal Phthalocyanine (MPc), used as a dye in textiles and paper, contains carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen and can also contain a wide range of atoms at its centre. Using either copper or manganese the team were able to manipulate the atom’s magnetic moment.

By experimenting with how clusters of MPc were grown on a plastic film, Heutz discovered how the metal centres could interact with each other and how these interactions could be controlled.

‘MPc likes to form crystals and stack in columns,’ said Heutz. ‘They are like staircases with the molecules as steps. If you chemically treat the film on which they are grown you can make them point in different directions and if you heat them you can change the steepness of the staircase and how much the molecules overlap.