Magnetic nanostructures. From physical principles to spintronics

A brief summary of underlying principles governing ultrathin film magnetic nanostructures and magnetoelectronics will be presented. The presentation will be based more on physical intuition than on rather complex physical and mathematical models in order to bring this new and rapidly expanding field to a broad audience. The success of this field has been based on the ability to create new structures in which interfaces play a crucial role. Three major phenomena have strongly affected progress in the development of new magnetic materials based on ultrathin films: (a) interface anisotropies; (b) interlayer exchange coupling; and (c) magneto-electron transport. The great progress in the study of ultrathin film multilayers and films patterned with submicrometre lateral geometries has led to a new class of electronic devices whose operation is based upon the spin-polarized character of the electronic carriers. "Magnetoelectronics and spintronics" are terms used to mark the development of very small spin-polarized electronic devices . Some latest developments in magnetic sensors and magnetic RAM will be presented to emphasize the importance of spintronics in the emerging technologies of the 21st century.