Magnetoresistive medium including nanowires

A magnetoresistive medium comprising:

• a crystalline substrate;
• stepped terraces of atomic and nanometer scale on the substrate formed by vicinally treating the substrate;
• a set of discrete, separated spacer nanowires on the terraces, provided by an intermediate fractional layer of spacer film on the substrate;
• a thin main film covering the spacer nanowires and the exposed surfaces of the terraces;
• two sets of main nanowires, each having a different response to an external magnetic field, formed in the main film by the interaction of the main film, spacer nanowires and substrate and forming an array of discrete stripes with different magnetic properties, said stripes broadly correlated with the average direction of the edges of the atomic terraces.

A magnetoresistive medium comprising:

• a crystalline substrate;
• stepped terraces of atomic and nanometer scale on the substrate formed by vicinally treating the substrate;
• at least two sets of discrete and separated spacer nanowires on the terraces, each set being provided by an intermediate fractional layer of spacer film on the substrate, the fractional layers covering substantially all the substrate;
• a thin main film covering the spacer nanowires;
• two sets of main nanowires, each having a different response to an external magnetic field formed in main film by the interaction of the main film with spacer nanowires and forming an array of discrete stripes with different magnetic properties, said stripes broadly correlated with the average direction of the edges of the atomic terraces.

A magnetoresistive medium comprising:

• a crystalline substrate;
• stepped terraces of atomic and nanometer scale on the substrate formed by vicinally treating the substrate;
• a main film covering the substrate;
• a set of discrete and separated spacer nanowires on the main film provided by a fractional layer of spacer film;
• two sets of main nanowires, each set having a different response to an external magnetic field formed in main film by the interaction of the main film with the spacer nanowires and forming an array of discrete stripes with different magnetic properties, said stripes broadly correlated with the average direction of the edges of the atomic terraces.