Scientific Background

Abstract

Scientific BackgroundThe following Chapter introduces three main topics of my work: ferroic order, nanomagnetism and metamaterials. First, the concept of ferroic order is presented. A symmetry-based classification is given together with a brief discussion of phase transitions, the emergence of a ferroic order parameter, spontaneous domain formation and the manipulation of an order parameter with a conjugate field. This part closes by unravelling ferrotoroidicity. Second, magnetic properties of sub-micrometre-sized objects made from a ferromagnetic material are discussed. Here, the formation of different kinds of spin structures is explained that serve as building blocks of nanomagnetic arrays. The suppression or-more important here-the support of longrange order in extended magnetostatic-coupled arrays is explained. The third part of this Chapter introduces metamaterials, a class of matter that is assembled on length scales comparable with the wavelength of radiation that interacts with it and that provides design-determined novel material properties and functionalities.