Recent advances in nanomagnetism and spin electronics

Abstract

This paper presents recent experimental advances in the field of nanomagnetism and spinelectronics. It covers the period of the last decades during which fundamental discoveriessuch as giant magnetoresistance have been successfully transferred to industrialapplications. Such results could be obtained thanks to the improvements of thin filmdeposition and lithography techniques. Present preparation efforts are now orientedtowards lateral size reduction of continuous layers in order to minimize the size ofpotential devices, as well as to understand better the basic mechanisms of magneticinteractions. At the same time, experimental techniques such as magneto-opticmicroscopy, magnetic force microscopy, polarized photoelectron spectroscopies ormagnetotransport have accomplished significant progress, allowing us to observe in detailmagnetic configurations of nanostructures and their magnetoresistive response.