Magnetic Nanostructures in Modern Technology

This book follows a NATO Advanced Study Institute on “Magnetic Nanostructures for Micro-Electromechanical Systems and Spintronic Applications” which has been held in Catona (Italy) from 2nd to 15th of July 2006. The objective of the school was to present the recent advances in the science of magnetic nanostructures and related developments in the field of nanotechnology for advanced magneto-electronic devices and magnetic micro-electromechanical systems. This goal was accomplished through a synergic junction between the characteristic expertise of the engineering and the knowledge of the basic science, thus favouring interdisciplinary enrichment and cross-cultural fertilization.
The Advanced Study Institute was held in the frame of the NATO initiative concerning the SECURITY THROUGH SCIENCE, that, among its objectives includes the addressing of the partner-country priorities in technology transfer. The contents of the School have indeed a strategic relevance in important fields such as information technology, micro-actuators and sensors. In addition the School contributed to the specific role of training young scientists in NATO counties.
The current volume is not merely intended as a proceeding of the School but it rather represents an articulate restructuring of the contributions in order to offer a real “state of the art” in the subject. It covers the period of the last decades during which fundamental discoveries such as giant magneto-resistance have been successfully transferred to industrial applications and new outcomes in spin-dependent processes, micromagnetic modeling, magnetic recording and innovative experimental techniques have been developed.