The properties of ultrathin magnets can be specifically altered by a slight twist between two atomic monolayers. This is the conclusion reached by an international research team led by TU Darmstadt in a study published in Nature Communications. The findings open new prospects for future memory devices.

For the first time, the researchers observed that an extremely thin magnetic material—a so-called two-dimensional van der Waals magnet—” stores” its magnetic state: It responds to a magnetic field and retains some of its magnetization even when the applied field changes. This “memory” is known as hysteresis and forms the basis of many data storage systems.