Ultrathin Magnetic Structures III Fundamentals of Nanomagnetis

Ultrathin Magnetic Structures III J.A.C. Bland · B. Heinrich (Eds.) UltrathinMagnetic StructuresIII Fundamentals ofNanomagnetism With128 Figures,Including 28 inColor 123 J.Anthony C.Bland TheCavendish Laboratory Department of Physics University of Cambridge Madingley Road CB3 0HE Cambridge United Kingdom e-mail: jacb1@phy.cam.ac.uk Bretislav Heinrich PhysicsDepartment Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC, V5A1S6 Canada e-mail: bheinric@sfu.ca Library of Congress Control Number: 2004104844 ISBN3-540-21953-6 Springer Berlin Heidelberg NewYork This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilmorinanyotherway,andstorageindatabanks.Duplicationofthispublicationorpartsthereofispermitted only under the provisions of the GermanCopyright Law of September9, 1965, inits current version,and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable for prosecution under the German Copyright Law. Springerisa part of SpringerScience+BusinessMedia springeronline.com ©Springer-Verlag BerlinHeidelberg2005 PrintedinGermany The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in theabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsand therefore freefor general use. Production and typesetting:LE-T X Jelonek,Schmidt& VöcklerGbR,Leipzig Cover production: ErichKirchner,Heidelberg Printedon acid-free paper 57/3141/YL-5 4 3 2 10 Preface The field of magnetic nanostructures is now an exciting and central area of modern condensed matter science, which has recently led to the development of a major new direction in electronics – so called ‘spintronics’. This is a new approach in which the electron spinmomentumplays anequalroletotheelectrical charge,andthese radical ideas have galvanised the efforts of previously disparate research communities by offeringthepromiseofsurpassingthelimits ofconventional semiconductors. Clearly the world of magnetism has now entered electronics in a very fundamental manner. This is a very fast growing and exciting field which attracts a steadily increasing number of researchers, bringing a constant stream of new ideas. Both spintronics and magnetic nanostructures are already household names in the broad scientific community and we are now, as a result, at the important stage of beginning to develop entirely new approaches to electronics and information technology. 50Giga-byte/sq inch storage densities in hard drive disks are now a reality. Magnetic Random Access Memories are being introduced commercially and they will soon change the operation of PC’s and laptops. Computer logic architectures based on spintronics are already being widely discussed. Spintronics spreads beyond the traditional boundaries of physics research, device applicationsandelectronics.Researchersinbiologyandthemedicalsciencesfindthis approach equally exciting. In this background it is obvious that a deplorable absence ofmagnetismteachingwithinUniversitycurricula,whichstartedwiththeadventofan enormousgrowthofsemiconductorphysics,andelectronicsintheearlysixties,isnow a complete anachronism. There is a pressing need to have books suitable for lecturers in advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Teaching staff at Universities need such literature to quickly incorporate the field of magnetic nanostructures and spintronics into the University teaching program. Scientists working in spintronics applications come from a very broad science and technology background. They also need access to literature which addresses fundamentals and which helps to achieve a broader understanding of this field. We addressed the basic topics of magnetic multilayers in Volumes I and II which still underpin many of these developments today. In the early nineties, Giant Mag-netoresistance and new materials based on the unique properties of interfaces of ... - tailieumienphi.vn