Smart multi-layered magnetic material acts as an electric switch

The nanometric-size islands of magnetic metal sporadically spread between vacuum gaps display unique conductive properties under a magnetic field. In a recent study published in EPJ Plus, Anatoliy Chornous from Sumy State University in Ukraine and colleagues found that the vacuum gaps impede the direct magnetic alignment between the adjacent islands—which depends on the external magnetic field—while allowing electron tunneling between them. Such externally controlled conducting behav