A magnet, re-magnetized as a code.
Enough physics to evaluate the applications — the deep dive lives at our companion encyclopedia, multipolemag.com.
Maxels: magnetic pixels
A conventional magnet is a dipole — one north face, one south face, a field that loops far into space, and exactly two tricks: attract and repel. A programmable magnet (CMR’s trademark: Polymagnet®) is the same piece of ordinary NdFeB, re-magnetized with a printed pattern of many small N and S regions — maxels, magnetic pixels roughly 1–4 mm across — on a single face.
Neighboring maxels close their flux loops locally, so the field concentrates at the surface and dies fast with distance. For a periodic pattern the falloff is exponential — F ∝ e−2πz/λ, where λ is the pole pitch. Fine pattern: intense, short-throw (CMR recommends working gaps under 2 mm). Coarse pattern: gentler, longer reach. Reach itself is a design knob.
Correlation: the force curve as signal processing
Larry Fullerton’s insight was to design the pattern like a radar code. Two mating coded surfaces attract according to the spatial correlation of their codes: at exact alignment every maxel pair is complementary and force peaks like a matched filter; off alignment, attractions and repulsions cancel and the force collapses — “typically about an order of magnitude” less, per patent US 7,800,471. The patents used Barker codes; the engineered result is called the spatial force function. Differently coded pairs simply ignore each other: lock-and-key, in physics.
The MagPrinter: a dot-matrix printer for magnetism
Patterns are written by a computer-controlled magnetizing head firing ~0.8 ms current pulses through a ~1 mm aperture — one maxel at a time (writing patents US 10,204,727 and family). Workflow: pick a function from the software catalog or design a custom one, insert a blank magnet, print the pattern in seconds to minutes, force-test. The first MagPrinter shipped in 2013; a desktop Mini MagPrinter followed in 2014 at roughly $45,000.
What coding cannot do
Coding redistributes the material’s magnetic energy; it cannot add any. NdFeB tops out around 52 MGOe whether plain or printed. No free levitation either — Earnshaw’s theorem forbids stable static levitation, and CMR’s own FAQ says so. Every “floating” spring demo runs on a pin.
The full treatment — field decay math, Halbach-vs-coded comparison, materials, manufacturing, patent map — is the companion site’s whole job.
multipolemag.com →From a self-assembling toy to a patent fortress
Larry W. Fullerton (1950–2016)
The ultra-wideband radio pioneer — conceived UWB in 1973, co-founded Time Domain Corp in 1987, held 500+ patents. Wanting a self-assembling toy for his grandchildren, he applied signal-coding theory to magnet faces. Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award, 2010; Fast Company’s #81 most-creative, 2010. He died of brain cancer in 2016; co-inventor Mark Roberts carried the IP work forward.
Correlated Magnetics Research
Cedar Ridge Research (2006) became CMR (2008), announcing publicly in Huntsville, Alabama in October 2009 — where it remains (4801 University Square, Suite 2). “Polymagnet” is the product brand; CMR is the company. Funding: roughly $11.2–11.9M total, from Javelin Venture Partners, Austin’s Capital Factory, and SBIR awards. Independent and private; never reported acquired. Current leadership per its site: the company’s current executive team, with Greg Miller (CFO), Steve Murray (Engineering) and Jake Zimmerman (Legal).
The patents
Cornerstone: US 7,800,471 (“Field emission system,” filed 2008, granted 2010), with a family spanning ring codes (7,755,462), force profiles (7,839,247), code methods (7,889,038), manufacture (8,844,121), 1-D codes (8,872,608) and shear transfer (9,219,403) — 121 issued plus 58 pending by December 2014. The earliest 2008-priority patents expire around 2028–2030.
The short timeline
- 1973–87 — Fullerton conceives ultra-wideband radio; Time Domain Corp follows. The coding math that will later drive magnets is radar math.
- 2006–08 — Cedar Ridge Research; the toy problem becomes a physics program; CMR incorporates.
- Oct 2009 — public launch in Huntsville. Demo: a magnet that ignores a steel plate until inches away, then grabs.
- 2010 — US 7,800,471 granted; Breakthrough Award.
- 2013–14 — MagPrinter ships (world’s first magnetizing printer with a software function catalog); desktop Mini MagPrinter follows.
- 2015 — SmarterEveryDay #153 brings the twist-release “magic magnets” to a mass audience.
- 2021–22 — NASA Armstrong flies a Polymagnet twist-release on the Prandtl-M glider: five successful releases. The first verified customer deployment.
- 2026 — the current executive team heads the company; the catalog runs ~200 SKUs; earliest patents approach expiry.