Magnetic properties and materials articles within Nature Materials

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  • News & Views |

    The rich dynamics of magnetic materials subject to very short laser pulses is important for both information processing and recording technology. The characterization of these phenomena with nanoscale spatial resolution shines new light on our understanding of them.

    • Jean-Yves Bigot

  • Letter |

    The control and manipulation of domain walls in perpendicularly magnetized nanowires by means of an electric current has gained attention for possible device applications. Now, the depinning of domain walls in Pt/Co/Pt nanowires is shown to be driven by the spin Hall effect.

    • P. P. J. Haazen
    • , E. Murè
    •  & B. Koopmans

  • Article |

    The ultrafast dynamic phenomena associated with thin magnetic films irradiated by a laser pulse have been proposed to occur through a process involving spin transport. The observation that this is also the case when the films are covered by a non-magnetic capping layer provides compelling evidence in favour of this scenario.

    • A. Eschenlohr
    • , M. Battiato
    •  & C. Stamm

  • Article |

    The control and manipulation of the magnetization of thin metallic films by means of an electric current is a promising strategy for ensuring that potential spintronic applications are energy efficient. It is now shown that large changes in the current-induced magnetic field can arise as a result of varying the thickness of the Ta layer in Ta|CoFeB|MgO heterostructures.

    • Junyeon Kim
    • , Jaivardhan Sinha
    •  & Hideo Ohno

  • News & Views |

    The magnetocaloric effect could form the basis for efficient refrigeration technologies. The finding that large and reversible magnetocaloric effects can be induced through a strain-mediated feedback mechanism may expand the range of available magnetocaloric materials.

    • Per Nordblad

  • Letter |

    The dynamical properties of single-chain magnets are difficult to control experimentally. The demonstration of a scheme for switching individual spins optically now allows for the study and manipulation of dynamical processes in magnetic nanowires with comparative ease.

    • Eric Heintze
    • , Fadi El Hallak
    •  & Lapo Bogani

  • Article |

    The properties of the insulating ground state from which the superconductivity of copper oxide materials emerges with chemical doping are a topic of extensive research. The observation that superconducting fluctuations are quenched by charge order at low temperatures now provides valuable information on the mechanism for the superconducting to insulator transition.

    • Xiaoyan Shi
    • , G. Logvenov
    •  & Dragana Popović

  • Letter |

    On application of a focused magnetic field, zinc-doped iron oxide nanoparticles with targeting antibodies attached are shown to activate cell death signalling in a spatially controlled manner. This triggering of apoptosis signalling, via the magnetically activated aggregation of receptors, is observed in both in vitro and in vivo systems.

    • Mi Hyeon Cho
    • , Eun Jung Lee
    •  & Jinwoo Cheon

  • Letter |

    Quasicrystals are known for their lack of long-range periodic order. The observation in quasicrystals of quantum critical phenomena that are not seen in their crystalline approximants now demonstrates that the quasicrystals also have unique electronic states.

    • Kazuhiko Deguchi
    • , Shuya Matsukawa
    •  & Tsutomu Ishimasa

  • Letter |

    Topological crystalline insulators are a novel state of matter in which the topological features of the electronic structure have been predicted to originate from crystal symmetries. Now an experimental realization of a topological crystalline insulator is reported, in the form of Pb1−xSnxSe.

    • P. Dziawa
    • , B. J. Kowalski
    •  & T. Story

  • Letter |

    The dynamics of spins in single atomic layers of cuprates and other compounds are important for understanding their properties, such as magnetism and high-temperature superconductivity. Now, spin excitations in isolated single layers of a cuprate have been measured, providing valuable feedback on their magnetic properties.

    • M. P. M. Dean
    • , R. S. Springell
    •  & J. P. Hill

  • Letter |

    The electronic interactions at the interface of oxide materials promise properties that can be very different from those of the parent compounds. The finding that many-body interactions in oxide superlattices can be used to engineer electronic properties offers a new strategy for designing oxide heterostructures.

    • Eric J. Monkman
    • , Carolina Adamo
    •  & Kyle M. Shen

  • Article |

    The interaction between spins in magnetic materials gives rise to a number of interesting effects. An example is the discovery of an unusual magnetic state based on a long-range ordering force between magnetic domain walls that is analogous to the interaction between protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei.

    • Sergey Artyukhin
    • , Maxim Mostovoy
    •  & Dimitri N. Argyriou

  • Article |

    Magnetic cooling could be a radically different energy solution that could replace conventional vapour compression refrigeration in the future. It is now shown that a Heusler-type magnetocaloric alloy exhibits a remarkable cooling capability due to the effect of a sharp structural transformation at a specific temperature. The finding may be of relevance beyond Heusler alloys and represents an important step towards the implementation of cooling systems based on magnetocaloric materials.

    • Jian Liu
    • , Tino Gottschall
    •  & Oliver Gutfleisch

  • Letter |

    Geometrically frustrated magnets are systems where it is impossible for all magnetic interactions to occur simultaneously. The discovery of frustrated magnetism in a system where the magnetic moments are situated across clusters of transition-metal elements instead of individual ions promises a new approach for controlling such magnetic states.

    • J. P. Sheckelton
    • , J. R. Neilson
    •  & T. M. McQueen

  • Commentary |

    Progress in controlling different ferroic orders such as ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity on the nanoscale could offer unprecedented possibilities for electronic applications.

    • Manuel Bibes

  • Review Article |

    Spin caloritronics focuses on the interaction of electron spins with heat currents. This Review describes newly discovered physical effects that have re-invigorated the field by stimulating further research into understanding the fundamentals of spin–phonon interactions, and providing new avenues to explore to improve current thermoelectric technology.

    • Gerrit E. W. Bauer
    • , Eiji Saitoh
    •  & Bart J. van Wees

  • Review Article |

    Spin-transfer torque is the rotation that a spin-polarized current induces on the magnetization of the solid it flows through. The way in which currents generate torques in a wide variety of magnetic materials and structures is discussed in this Review, as well as recent state-of-the-art demonstrations of current-induced-torque devices that show great promise for enhancing the functionality of semiconductor devices.

    • Arne Brataas
    • , Andrew D. Kent
    •  & Hideo Ohno

  • Article |

    Magnetoelectric composite materials are of interest for sensitive magnetic-field sensors. The realization of a magnetoelectric composite that does not require an applied external magnetic field, but instead relies on internal bias via exchange coupling, promises sensitive sensors even for small magnetic fields.

    • Enno Lage
    • , Christine Kirchhof
    •  & Dirk Meyners

  • Article |

    Although (Ga,Mn)As is considered the model ferromagnetic semiconductor, the electronic structure of the charges — holes in this case — and its connection with the Curie temperature (TC) are still unclear. Experiments now provide a direct link between TC and the existence of an impurity band for the holes. Clarifying this issue is essential to designing other materials with potentially higher TC.

    • M. Dobrowolska
    • , K. Tivakornsasithorn
    •  & W. Walukiewicz

  • Article |

    In most unconventional superconductors, the superconducting phase is adjacent to a phase with some type of magnetic order. However, this is not a universal feature. For example, no magnetic order has so far been observed in Sr2RuO4. Now, low-energy muon relaxation experiments show the presence of a static magnetic order for this material, suggesting that this feature may in fact be universal.

    • J. P. Carlo
    • , T. Goko
    •  & Y. J. Uemura

  • Review Article |

    From magnetism, ferroelectricity and superconductivity to electrical and thermal properties, oxides show a broad range of phenomena of fundamental as well as practical relevance. Reviewed here are the emergent phenomena arising at the interface between oxide materials, which have attracted considerable interest based on advances in thin-film deposition techniques.

    • H. Y. Hwang
    • , Y. Iwasa
    •  & Y. Tokura

  • Letter |

    Interfaces between insulating oxides have revealed exotic electronic and magnetic properties. It is now shown that a complex magnetic structure can emerge in an oxide superlattice, and that specific interfaces can unexpectedly exhibit exchange bias. The observations reveal the induction of antiferromagnetism in a material that is usually paramagnetic.

    • Marta Gibert
    • , Pavlo Zubko
    •  & Jean-Marc Triscone

  • News & Views |

    Electric-field-induced toggle switching of nanoscale thin-film magnets signifies an important step towards energy-efficient magnetic data storage.

    • Evgeny Y. Tsymbal

  • Article |

    The possibility of controlling magnetization by spin-polarized current could lead to devices more energy-efficient than traditional ones using external magnetic fields. Now, an even more efficient method has been demonstrated by using electric-field pulses to switch the magnetization in a CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunnelling junction.

    • Wei-Gang Wang
    • , Mingen Li
    •  & C. L. Chien

  • Letter |

    The electrical control of magnetic properties is a key requirement for the development of spintronic devices. The demonstration that the ferromagnetic phase transition in cobalt can be changed by applying an electric field at room temperature represents a significant step towards devices that can switch magnetism on and off electrically.

    • D. Chiba
    • , S. Fukami
    •  & T. Ono

  • Article |

    With only a few known useful room-temperature multiferroics, other ways of achieving materials showing magnetism as well as electrical polarization are sought. The discovery that the ferroelectric BaTiO3 also shows magnetism at room temperature at the interface with iron or cobalt marks a new approach to achieving multiferroic properties.

    • S. Valencia
    • , A. Crassous
    •  & M. Bibes

  • Letter |

    A suspension of magnetic colloidal particles confined at a liquid–liquid interface and energized by an external periodic magnetic field self-assembles into star-shaped structures that can be magnetically manipulated to capture and transport smaller non-magnetic particles.

    • Alexey Snezhko
    •  & Igor S. Aranson

  • Letter |

    Superparamagnetic nanoparticles under an external magnetic field align in the field’s direction to minimize magnetic-dipole interactions. By modulating and fixing the alignment of magnetic nanoparticles in polymeric microcomponents through photopolymerization, magnetic nanocomposite microactuators were programmed to undergo complex motion, such as anisotropic bending and crawling.

    • Jiyun Kim
    • , Su Eun Chung
    •  & Sunghoon Kwon

  • Letter |

    The combined magnetic and thermoelectric properties of nanostructures have recently attracted considerable attention. It is now demonstrated that the Seebeck coefficient in a magnetic tunnelling junction is strongly dependent on the magnetic configuration.

    • Marvin Walter
    • , Jakob Walowski
    •  & Christian Heiliger

  • News & Views |

    Conventional magnetoresistive devices are composed of magnetic and non-magnetic films. It is now shown that, at low temperature, a carbon nanotube decorated with single-molecule magnets can function as an all-organic spin valve.

    • Stefano Sanvito

  • Letter |

    In macroscopic spin valves, the current between two magnetic electrodes can be tuned by external magnetic fields. Here, a molecular-scale spin valve is demonstrated in which a single-molecule magnet, through its localized magnetic moment, modulates the conductance of a single-walled carbon nanotube quantum dot with magnetoresistance ratios reaching 300%.

    • M. Urdampilleta
    • , S. Klyatskaya
    •  & W. Wernsdorfer

  • Article |

    A very large Rashba-type spin splitting, which is a consequence of spin–orbit interaction, has been observed in the heavy-element semiconductor BiTeI. The results show the possibility, in principle, of using the material in spintronics devices in which the electron spin is controlled by electric currents.

    • K. Ishizaka
    • , M. S. Bahramy
    •  & Y. Tokura

  • Letter |

    Although magnetic domain walls could one day be used for information storage, the current challenges to their use are the irreproducibility of their displacement and the limits to their maximum speed. It is now shown that the Rashba effect can be used to provide a solution to both these issues.

    • Ioan Mihai Miron
    • , Thomas Moore
    •  & Gilles Gaudin

  • News & Views |

    The experimental demonstration of antiferromagnetic tunnelling anisotropic magnetoresistance paves the way for spintronic devices based on antiferromagnets, rather than ferromagnets.

    • Rembert Duine

  • Article |

    The symmetries of crystals are an important factor in the understanding of their properties. The discovery of a new symmetry type, rotation-reversal symmetry, may lead to the discovery of new rotation-based phenomena, for example in multiferroic materials.

    • Venkatraman Gopalan
    •  & Daniel B. Litvin

  • Letter |

    Spin-valve structures used in modern hard-drive read heads and magnetic random access memories comprise two ferromagnetic electrodes. It is now shown that antiferromagnets can be used as electrodes in spin valves. The results open a wide range of new possibilities for the choice of materials for spintronics devices.

    • B. G. Park
    • , J. Wunderlich
    •  & T. Jungwirth

  • Letter |

    The chemical versatility of organic semiconductors promises to be of great use to electronics and spintronics. As an example, it is now demonstrated that the spin polarization of extracted carriers from an organic semiconductor device can be controlled by the insertion of a thin layer of polar material. This approach opens up ideas for future spintronic device concepts.

    • L. Schulz
    • , L. Nuccio
    •  & A. J. Drew

  • Editorial |

    Diluted magnetic semiconductors and oxides are interesting for fundamental science and applications even without room-temperature ferromagnetism.

  • Interview |

    Scott Chambers has worked on epitaxial oxide films for the past eighteen years. Nature Materials asked him about his view on high-temperature ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic oxides.

    • Fabio Pulizzi

  • Interview |

    Nitin Samarth has extensive experience in studying the properties of (Ga,Mn)As. He told Nature Materials about the role that this compound has had in exploring the magnetic properties of semiconductors and, more generally, of spin-related phenomena.

    • Fabio Pulizzi

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