Physicists at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and the Vienna University of Technology have successfully created one-dimensional magnetic atom chains for the first time. Their break-through provides a model system for basic research in areas such as magnetic data storage, as well as in chemistry. Physicists from the Center for Computational Materials Science at the Vienna University of Technology were able to demonstrate that oxygen enables perfect single-atom chains to grow from manganese, iron, cobalt and nickel on an iridium surface. They discovered that the oxygen atoms work like a kind of lifting mechanism that separates the atom chains from the iridium substrate. This gives the chains their one-dimensional character and their magnetic properties. http://phys.org/news/2016-08-physicists-enable-one-dimensional-atom-chains.html
