A new magnetic anisotropy

A new discovery has been made in the field of magnetic materials that manifests itself in the form of a displaced hysteresis loop. In addition, although from the same basic phenomena, the magnetic material has only one stable orientation in a magnetic field. In particular, it can be turned through 180/spl deg/ and it will still return to its original orientation. The material that exhibits this property is a compact of fine particles of cobalt (100-1000 /spl Aring/) that have a cobaltous oxide coating.