The 2014 Magnetism Roadmap

Abstract

Magnetism is a very fascinating and dynamic field. Especially in the last 30 years it has experienced many major advances in the full range from novel fundamental phenomena to new products. Applications such as hard disk drives and magnetic sensors are part of our daily life, and new applications, such as in non-volatile computer random access memory, are expected to surface shortly. Thus it is timely for describing the current status, and current and future challenges in the form of a Roadmap article. This 2014 Magnetism Roadmap provides a view on several selected, currently very active innovative developments. It consists of 12 sections, each written by an expert in the field and addressing a specific subject, with strong emphasize on future potential. This Roadmap cannot cover the entire field. We have selected several highly relevant areas without attempting to provide a full reviewa future update will have room for more topics. The scope covers mostly nano-magnetic phenomena and applications, where surfaces and interfaces provide additional functionality. New developments in fundamental topics such as interacting nano-elements, novel magnon-based spintronics concepts, spin-orbit torques and spin-caloric phenomena are addressed. New materials, such as organic magnetic materials and permanent magnets are covered. New applications are presented such as nano-magnetic logic, non-local and domain-wall based devices, heat-assisted magnetic recording, magnetic random access memory, and applications in biotechnology.May the Roadmap serve as a guideline for future emerging research directions in modern magnetism.

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in amorphous NdxCo1−x thin films studied by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

“…Nowadays, these types of materials still attract great attention since they are used as base materials for the study of novel micro and nanoscopic magnetic phenomena [2][3][4]. The amorphous structure of the magnetic material used in some of these investigations [5][6][7] allows a larger miniaturization, faster preparation process, and more freedom in the choice of the relevant parameters than polycrystalline or monocrystalline materials, especially in the tune of its PMA energy.…”

Research Update: Electrical manipulation of magnetism through strain-mediated magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroic heterostructures

“…However, this does not meet present development of information storage which requests nonvolatility. 34 Recently, Zhang et al 21 have demonstrated a nonvolatile electrical manipulation of magnetism in CoFeB/(001) PMN-PT ( Fig. 2(a)) that differs from the previous work.…”

Interlayer interaction in multilayer [Co/Pt]n/Pt/Co structures

“…If Co layer thickness is less than a critical value (∼ 1 nm) surface anisotropy exceeds shape anisotropy, and the multilayer CoMe system is perpendicularly magnetized. This property of CoMe multilayers considerably expands the opportunities in development of magneto-optical and magnetoresistive devices with lateral/vertical architecture [6][7][8] .…”