A team of researchers from Cologne, Munich and Dresden have managed to create artificial magnetic monopoles. To do this, the scientists merged tiny magnetic whirls, so-called skyrmions.
At
the point of merging, the physicists were able to create a monopole,
which has similar characteristics to a fundamental particle postulated
by Paul Dirac in 1931. In addition to fundamental research, the
monopoles may also have application potential.
The question of whether
magnetic whirls can be used in the production of computer components one
day is currently being researched by a number of groups worldwide.
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| Depiction of the merging of two magnetic vortices, so-called skyrmions, in the magnetic structure of a material. The point at the which the vortices merge displays the properties of an emergent magnetic monopole. When the monopole moves along the direction of the vortices a skyrmion is created or destroyed. (Credit: Ch. Schütte/University of Cologne) |
Credit: http://www.portal.uni-koeln.de/