Magnetic memory effect in hollandite-type α-K<inf>x</inf>MnO<inf>2</inf> monocrystalline nanorods

Abstract

Memory effect due to spin-glass state below about 20 K has been illustrated in the hollandite-type α-KxMnO2 monocrystalline nanorods by systematic magnetization measurements including temperature- and time-dependent magnetization curves in low fields. In this work, we succeeded in writing, reading, and deleting 8-bits digital information in the investigated system. These results show that α-KxMnO2 is a good candidate material for a thermal memory cell. The phenomenological droplet model was used in the description of the observed memory effect, whose origin in α-KxMnO2 is associated with bulk properties, doping and frustration.