(糖心视频Org.com) -- Researchers from Imperial College London have created a structure that acts like a single pole of a magnet, a feat that has evaded scientists for decades. The researchers say their new Nature 糖心视频ics study takes them a step closer to isolating a 'magnetic monopole.'

Magnets have two magnetic poles, north and south. 鈥楲ike鈥� poles, such as north and north, repel one another and 鈥榦pposite鈥� poles, such as north and south, attract. Whichever way a magnet is cut, it will always have these two poles.

Scientists have theorised for many years that it must be possible to isolate a 鈥�magnetic monopole鈥�, either north or south on its own, but until recently researchers have been unable to show this in experiments.

Researchers at Imperial have now enabled tiny nano-sized magnets to behave like magnetic monopoles, by arranging them in a honeycomb structure. In late 2009, reported they had created monopole-like behaviour in a material called 鈥榮pin ice鈥�. In these materials, monopoles form only at extremely low temperatures of -270 degrees Celsius. The Imperial researchers鈥� structure contains magnetic monopoles at room temperature.

, Dr Will Branford and Dr Sam Ladak, from the Department of 糖心视频ics at Imperial, explain how magnets work and why they are so excited by their new breakthrough.