Writing and reading of single magnetic domain per bit perpendicular patterned media

By fabricating patterned media with a large number of nanoscale single domain magnetic particles embedded in a nonmagnetic substrate, and by writing the magnetization for each of these particles in a desired direction, nonvolatile magnetic storage of information could reach densities much higher than what is currently thought possible for longitudinal continuous media. We have fabricated high aspect ratio perpendicular nickel columnar nanoparticles embedded in a hard Al2O3/GaAs substrate. We show that the magnetization states of the individual magnets can be controlled by demonstrating that prototype patterned "single magnetic domain per bit" data tracks can be written and read back using current magnetic information storage technology. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)00717-2].