Static and dynamic aspects of the magnetization reversal in nanowire arrays are investigated. The arrays have been produced by electrodeposition of ferromagnetic metals ͑Fe, Co, and Ni͒ into porous anodic alumina templates, with diameters as small as 5 nm. The crystal structures of the nanowires are bcc ͑Fe͒ and fcc ͑Ni͒ and a mixture of fcc and hcp ͑Co͒, with grain sizes of a few nanometers. Magnetic properties as a function of temperature are investigated. The temperature dependence of coercivity can be understood in terms of thermal activation over an energy barrier with a 3 2 -power dependence on the field. Coercivity as a function of diameter reveals a change of the magnetization reversal mechanism from localized quasicoherent nucleation for small diameters to a localized curlinglike nucleation as the diameter exceeds a critical value determined by the exchange length. The quasicoherent limit is described by a model that yields explicitly real-structure-dependent expressions for coercivity, localization length, and activation volume.

Ferromagnetic Co nanowires have been electrodeposited into self-assembled porous anodic alumina arrays. Due to their cylindrical shape, the nanowires exhibit perpendicular anisotropy. The coercivity, remanence ratio, and activation volumes of Co nanowires depend strongly on the length, diameter, and spacing of the nanowires. Both coercivity and thermal activation volume increase with increasing wire length, while for constant center-to-center spacing, coercivity decreases and thermal activation volume increases with increasing wire diameter. The behavior of the nanowires is explained qualitatively in terms of localized magnetization reversal.

Super-resolution imaging beyond Abbe's diffraction limit can be achieved by utilizing an optical medium or "metamaterial" that can either amplify or transport the decaying near-field evanescent waves that carry subwavelength features of objects. Earlier approaches at optical frequencies mostly utilized the amplification of evanescent waves in thin metallic films or metal-dielectric multilayers, but were restricted to very small thicknesses ͑Ӷ , wavelength͒ and accordingly short object-image distances, due to losses in the material. Here, we present an experimental demonstration of super-resolution imaging by a low-loss three-dimensional metamaterial nanolens consisting of aligned gold nanowires embedded in a porous alumina matrix. This composite medium possesses strongly anisotropic optical properties with negative permittivity in the nanowire axis direction, which enables the transport of both far-field and near-field components with low-loss over significant distances ͑Ͼ6 ͒, and over a broad spectral range. We demonstrate the imaging of large objects, having subwavelength features, with a resolution of at least / 4 at near-infrared wavelengths. The results are in good agreement with a theoretical model of wave propagation in anisotropic media.

Magnetic properties of Ni nanowires electrodeposited into self-assembled porous alumina arrays have been investigated. By anodizing aluminum in sulfuric acid and immersing the as-anodized template into phosphoric acid for different lengths of time, we are able to vary the diameters of the subsequently deposited nanowires between 8 and 25 nm. The coercivity measured along wire axis first increases with the wire diameter, reaches a maximum of 950 Oe near a diameter of 18 nm, and then decreases with further increase of wire diameter. The dependence of the magnetization of Ni nanowires is found to follow Bloch's law at low temperature but with the Bloch exponent decreasing from the bulk value and the Bloch constant increasing from the bulk value by an order of magnitude.

We report the observation of giant photoresistivity in electrochemically self-assembled CdS and ZnSe nanowires electrodeposited in a porous alumina film. The resistance of these nanowires increases by one to two orders of magnitude when exposed to infrared radiation, possibly because of real-space transfer of electrons from the nanowires into the surrounding alumina by photon absorption. This phenomenon has potential applications in “normally on” infrared photodetectors and optically controlled switches.

Several theoretical models have been formulated to explain the growth of porous structures in anodized alumina. Using some basic assumptions, these models predict the size and shape of the pores in the anodic porous alumina as functions of pH and voltage. Additionally, they address issues of stability in the pore growth. In this work, we have carried out a systematic experimental investigation to study the stability phase diagram as a function of pH and applied voltage. We also obtain the dependence of pore dimensions on the pH, voltage, and acid type. Based on our results, and insight gained from recent chemical analysis of the porous alumina anodization process, we conclude that the models must include an appropriate weighting factor to account for the oxidation and dissolution mechanism during the pore formation.

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