Magnetic properties and materials articles within Nature

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• Letter | 27 October 2010

  Quantum tunnelling of the magnetization in a monolayer of oriented single-molecule magnets

  Single-molecule magnets are molecular complexes with magnetic bistability, and recently it was shown that such a magnetic memory effect is retained for Fe₄ clusters when they are wired to a gold surface. These authors have tailored the clusters to have a preferential orientation and form a self-assembled monolayer on the surface. It then becomes possible to observe quantum tunnelling of the magnetization, which shows up as steps in the magnetic hysteresis loop.

  • M. Mannini
  • , F. Pineider
  •  & R. Sessoli

• News & Views | 06 October 2010

  Seeing the spin through

  Interfaces can have quite different properties from those of their constituent materials. But it's surprising that the adsorption of a single organic molecule onto a magnetic surface can drastically modify that surface's magnetism.

  • Stefano Sanvito

• Research Highlights | 02 June 2010

  Nanoscience: Shifted shells

• Letter | 27 May 2010

  Distinguishing the ultrafast dynamics of spin and orbital moments in solids

  The magnetism produced by electrons in a solid can have two components — the spin and orbital moments — that are interchangeable on femtosecond timescales. Here it is shown how rapid changes in these two components can be disentangled, providing insights into the underlying dynamical processes that could be of value for the ultrafast control of information in magnetic recording media.

  • C. Boeglin
  • , E. Beaurepaire
  •  & J.-Y. Bigot

• Letter | 19 May 2010

  Polymorphism control of superconductivity and magnetism in Cs₃C₆₀ close to the Mott transition

  Superconductivity and magnetic order are well known in C₆₀ compounds of the form A₃C₆₀ (where A = alkali metal). The spherical C₆₀ molecular ions in these crystals are almost always arranged in a face-centred cubic (f.c.c.) packing, except in Cs₃C₆₀, where the known superconducting phase has a body-centred cubic (b.c.c) packing. Now the f.c.c. polymorph for Cs₃C₆₀ has been isolated; it too is superconducting, although its magnetic properties are very different to those of its b.c.c counterpart.

  • Alexey Y. Ganin
  • , Yasuhiro Takabayashi
  •  & Kosmas Prassides

• Research Highlights | 14 April 2010

  Physics: Monopoles on demand

• News & Views | 17 March 2010

  Golden ratio seen in a magnet

  The golden ratio — an exact 'magic' number often claimed to be observed when taking ratios of distances in ancient and modern architecture, sculpture and painting — has been spotted in a magnetic compound.

  • Ian Affleck

• News & Views | 20 January 2010

  Membrane magic

  The use of magnetic fields to assemble particles into membranes provides a powerful tool for exploring the physics of self-assembly and a practical method for synthesizing functional materials.

  • Jack F. Douglas