Nanomagnetism: Ultrathin Films, Multilayers and Nanostructures

by Ph.D. Mills B.S. (Editor), Ph.D. Bland MA (Editor)

Overview

Nanoscience is of central importance in the physical and biological sciences and is now pervasive in technology. However nanomagnetism has a special role to play as magnetic properties depend uniquely on both dimensionality and lengthscales. Nanomagnetism is already central to data storage, sensor and device technologies but is increasingly being used in the life sciences and medicine. This volume aims to introduce scientists, computer scientists, engineers and technologists from diverse fields to this fascinating and technologically important new branch of nanoscience. The volume should appeal to both the interested general reader but also to the researcher wishing to obtain an overview of this fast moving field. The contributions come from acknowledged leaders in the field who each give authoritative accounts of key fundamental aspects of nanomagnetism to which they have themselves made a major contribution. After a brief introduction by the editors, Wu first surveys the fundamental properties of magnetic nanostructures. The interlayer exchange interactions within magnetic multilayer structures is next discussed by Stiles. Camley then discusses the static, dynamic and thermal properties of magnetic multilayers and nanostructures, followed by an account of the phenomenon of exchange anisotropy by Berkowitz and Kodama. This latter phenomenon is widely in current read head devices for example. The transport properties of nanostructures also are spectacular, and again underpin computer technology, as we see from the discussion of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) and tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR) presented by Fert and his colleagues. Beyond GMR and TMR we look to the field of spintronics where new electronic devices are envisioned and for which quantumcomputing may depend as discussed in the chapter by Flatte and Jonker.The volume concludes with discussion of the recently discovered phenomenon of current induced switching of magnetization by Edwards and Mathon.* Subject is in the forefront of nanoscience* All Section authors are leading figures in this key field* Presentations are accessible to non specialists, with focus on underlying fundamentals

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780080457178
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	03/27/2006
Series:	Contemporary Concepts of Condensed Matter Science , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	348
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Professor Mills is a condensed matter theorist whose past research has covered diverse aspects of condensed matter physics including optical interactions in solid materials, collective excitations at surfaces and interfaces and the means of probing them, theory of electron probes of surfaces, and magnetism. In recent years his attention has centered on the magnetism of very small structures.
Anthony Bland is a Fellow of Selwyn College and Professor of Experimental Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, where he has directed a leading research group in thin film magnetism since 1988. His research focuses on the use of experimental probes of magnetism to study novel magnetic phenomena on the nanoscale and his group is well known for its fundamental discoveries in ultrathin magnetic structures and nanorings.

Table of Contents

Series PrefaceVolume PrefaceSection 1: The Field of Nanomagnetism (J.A.C. Bland and D.L. Mills)Section 2: Fundamental Properties of Magnetic Nanostructures; A Survey (R. Wu)Section 3: Exchange Coupling in Magnetic Multilayers (M.D. Stiles)Section 4: Static, Dynamic and Thermal Properties of Magnetic Multilayers and Nanostructures (R.E. Camley)Section 5: Exchange Anisotropy (A.E. Berkowitz and R.H. Kodama)Section 6: Spin Transport in Magnetic Multilayers and Tunnel Junctions (A. Fert, A. Barth and F. Petroff)Section 7: Electrical Spin Injection and Transport in Semiconductors (B.T. Jonker and M.E. Flatt)Section 8: Current Induced Switching of Magnetism (C.M. Edwards and J. Mathon)