Chang-Beom Eom

Using a method similar to spectroscopy (magnetic sensing), scientists pass a current through a multilayer film and observe the orientation of the microscopic magnetic arrows inside. Previously, everything was predictable: in some materials, the arrows aligned only along the current, in others — strictly across it. But in bismuth ferrite with a platinum coating, a glitch occurred.

In a dark room, a spark jumps between two wires, and for an instant, there is light. Physicists have done something similar, but a million times smaller: at the boundary of two transparent crystals, they drew a conducting path and left a break just a few atoms wide. When a direct voltage was applied across this tiny gap, it began to glow.