The NANOSPIN project studied complex magnetic nanostructures consisting of a central core with one or more surrounding shells that were functionalised to self-order on surfaces for applications in classical and quantum ultra-high density information storage. The advanced manufacturing technique proposed, were using metal condensation in superfluid He droplets, a technology with enormous flexibility. It enables the production of core-shell particles with a free choice of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic core and shell materials and an arbitrary number of shells. This degree of control allowed us to engineer the internal spin configuration of an individual nanocluster and to create spin structures that have never been produced before, either naturally or artificially, with a wide range of magnetic properties. The technique also allowed us to coat the nanoparticles with a final shell to promote the ordering of arrays of the designed nanoparticles on surfaces for specific applications. This ability had an enormous impact on the technological areas of spintronics and magnetic storage.

Examples include particles smaller than 5nm that are blocked at room temperature enabling classical data storage densities higher than 10Tb/cm², and particles embedded in superconducting matrices in states of quantum superposition on which quantum qubits can be stored. Single-particle read/write processes and a new method to erase all data in a nanoparticle assembly using microwaves will be demonstrated. We will also assess the functionalised nanoparticles as qubits in quantum information processing systems. It combined state-of-the-art instrumentation with advances in cluster production technology and provided the fundamental understanding required to bring highly advanced technologies close to the market.

The programme brought together 8 partners: five Universities (Leicester, Reading, Surrey from UK, Barcelona (SP) and Summy state University (UKR)), 2 Research Centers (CNR-Rome (IT) and NCSRD (GR)) and a company ( MDT (RU)).