Magnetism at the Nanoscale

Controlling the synthesis of films and particles of reduced dimensionality is key to design nanostructured materials with tunable electronic and magnetic properties. Different growth methods and top-down patterning techniques can be employed. For structures that approach single-atom or single-molecule dimensions, we employ either bottom-up self-assembly methods (to produce large numbers of similar nanostructures in a reasonable time) or atom manipulation techniques (slow but precise). Using these methods, we have fabricated arrays of coupled nanomagnets, one-dimensional atomic chains, two-dimensional nanoparticles, monodisperse atoms on surfaces, as well as lego-like molecular clusters. The properties of these systems are studied by scanning tunneling microscopy, polarized x-ray absorption spectroscopy, photoemission electron spectroscopy, as well as by magnetotransport methods.