Magnetic tetrastability in a spin chain

Bistability in magnetism is extensively used, in particular for information storage. Here an alternative approach using tetrastable magnetic domains in one-dimensional (1D) spin systems is presented. Using numerical and analytical calculations, we show that a spin chain with a canting angle of \ensuremath{\pi}/4 possesses four energy-equivalent states. We discuss the static properties of this canted 1D system such as the profile and the energy of the domain walls as they govern the dynamics of the magnetization. The realization of this \ensuremath{\pi}/4 canted spin chain could enable the encoding of the information on four bits, which is a potential alternative toward the increase of storage density.