Mesoscopic Magnetic Systems: From Fundamental Properties to Devices

This APL special topic is dedicated to a fascinating class of systems that contain magnetic elements at length scales in the range of a few nm up to a few 10s of μm, which can form planar or three-dimensional structures. These systems not only host a multitude of interesting fundamental phenomena, but also provide essential building blocks for a variety of novel devices.

The behaviour of these systems are often dominated by the interactions between the magnetic elements that, for example, determine the nature of artificial spin ices, and it is often their combination with different materials that lend them their functionality. Their response to external stimuli such as magnetic or electric fields, spin currents, heat, and strain, can lead to novel dynamics that can happen at timescales ranging from minutes down to less than a picosecond, and their interaction with electromagnetic radiation enables dynamic manipulation of light polarization at the nanoscale. The magnetic elements themselves can contain complex magnetic configurations including magnetic domain walls, vortices, Bloch points, and skyrmions, which can be investigated with cutting-edge characterisation methods.

Advances in materials and the fabrication of mesoscopic magnetic systems provide new opportunities for the design and optimisation of magnetic devices, which can lead to completely new paradigms for applications including spintronics, computation, magnonics, magnetic wearables, and small-scale machinery.