This book provides a state-of-the art overview of a highly interesting emerging research field in solid state physics/nanomaterials science, topological structures in ferroic materials. Topological structures in ferroic materials have received strongly increasing attention in the last few years. Such structures include domain walls, skyrmions and vortices, which can form in ferroelectric, magnetic, ferroelastic or multiferroic materials. These topological structures can have completely different properties from the bulk material they form in. They also can be controlled by external fields (electrical, magnetic, strain) or currents, which makes them interesting from a fundamental research point of view as well as for potential novel nanomaterials applications. To provide a comprehensive overview, international leading researches in these fields contributed review-like chapters about their own work and the work of other researchers to provide a current view of this highly interesting topic.

This book offers a balanced and comprehensive guide to the core principles, fundamental properties, experimental approaches, and state-of-the-art applications of two major groups of emerging non-volatile memory technologies, i.e. spintronics-based devices as well as resistive switching devices, also known as Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM). The first section presents different types of spintronic-based devices, i.e. magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ), domain wall, and skyrmion memory devices. This section describes how their developments have led to various promising applications, such as microwave oscillators, detectors, magnetic logic, and neuromorphic engineered systems. In the second half of the book, the underlying device physics supported by different experimental observations and modelling of RRAM devices are presented with memory array level implementation. An insight into RRAM desired properties as synaptic element in neuromorphic computing platforms from material and algorithms viewpoint is also discussed with specific example in automatic sound classification framework.

"a very detailed book on multiferroics that will be useful for PhD students and researchers interested in this emerging field of materials science" —Dr. Wilfrid Prellier, Research Director, CNRS, Caen, France Multiferroics has emerged as one of the hottest topics in solid state physics in this millennium. The coexistence of multiple ferroic/antiferroic properties makes them useful both for fundamental studies and practical applications such as revolutionary new memory technologies and next-generation spintronics devices. This book provides an historical introduction to the field, followed by a summary of recent progress in single-phase multiferroics (type-I and type-II), multiferroic composites (bulk and nano composites), and emerging areas such as domain walls and vortices. Each chapter addresses potential technological implications. There is also a section dedicated to theoretical approaches, both phenomenological and first-principles calculations.

This book focuses on the characterisation of the chiral and topological nature of magnetic skyrmions in noncentrosymmetric helimagnets. In these materials, the skyrmion lattice phase appears as a long-range-ordered, close-packed grid of nearly millimetre-level correlation length, while the size of a single skyrmion is 3–100 nm. This is a very challenging range of length scales (spanning 5 orders of magnitude from tens of nm to mm) for magnetic characterisation techniques, and, to date, extensive information on this fascinating, magnetically ordered state has remained elusive. In response, this work develops novel resonant elastic x-ray scattering (REXS) techniques, which allow the magnetic structure, including the long-range order and domain formation, as well as microscopic skyrmion parameters, to be measured across the full range of length scales. Most importantly, using circular dichroism in REXS, the internal structure of a given skyrmion, the topological winding number, and the skyrmion helicity angle can all be unambiguously determined. These new techniques are applicable to many materials systems, and allow us to retrieve information on modulated spin structures, multiferroic order, spin-density-waves, and other forms of topological magnetic order.

Spintronics Handbook, Second Edition offers an update on the single most comprehensive survey of the two intertwined fields of spintronics and magnetism, covering the diverse array of materials and structures, including silicon, organic semiconductors, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and engineered nanostructures. It focuses on seminal pioneering work, together with the latest in cutting-edge advances, notably extended discussion of two-dimensional materials beyond graphene, topological insulators, skyrmions, and molecular spintronics. The main sections cover physical phenomena, spin-dependent tunneling, control of spin and magnetism in semiconductors, and spin-based applications. Features: Presents the most comprehensive reference text for the overlapping fields of spintronics (spin transport) and magnetism. Covers the full spectrum of materials and structures, from silicon and organic semiconductors to carbon nanotubes, graphene, and engineered nanostructures. Extends coverage of two-dimensional materials beyond graphene, including molybdenum disulfide and study of their spin relaxation mechanisms Includes new dedicated chapters on cutting-edge topics such as spin-orbit torques, topological insulators, half metals, complex oxide materials and skyrmions. Discusses important emerging areas of spintronics with superconductors, spin-wave spintronics, benchmarking of spintronics devices, and theory and experimental approaches to molecular spintronics. Evgeny Tsymbal's research is focused on computational materials science aiming at the understanding of fundamental properties of advanced ferromagnetic and ferroelectric nanostructures and materials relevant to nanoelectronics and spintronics. He is a George Holmes University Distinguished Professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Director of the UNL’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), and Director of the multi-institutional Center for NanoFerroic Devices (CNFD). Igor Žutić received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics at the University of Minnesota. His work spans a range of topics from high-temperature superconductors and ferromagnetism that can get stronger as the temperature is increased, to prediction of various spin-based devices. He is a recipient of 2006 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2005 National Research Council/American Society for Engineering Education Postdoctoral Research Award, and the National Research Council Fellowship (2003-2005). His research is supported by the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Department of Energy, and the Airforce Office of Scientific Research.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to ferroics and frustrated materials. Ferroics comprise a range of materials classes with functionalities such as magnetism, polarization, and orbital degrees of freedom and strain. Frustration, due to geometrical constraints, and disorder, due to chemical and/or structural inhomogeneities, can lead to glassy behavior, which has either been directly observed or inferred in a range of materials classes from model systems such as artificial spin ice, shape memory alloys, and ferroelectrics to electronically functional materials such as manganites. Interesting and unusual properties are found to be associated with these glasses and have potential for novel applications. Just as in prototypical spin glass and structural glasses, the elements of frustration and disorder lead to non-ergodocity, history dependence, frequency dependent relaxation behavior, and the presence of inhomogeneous nano clusters or domains. In addition, there are new states of matter, such as spin ice; however, it is still an open question as to whether these systems belong to the same family or universality class. The purpose of this work is to collect in a single volume the range of materials systems with differing functionalities that show many of the common characteristics of geometrical frustration, where interacting degrees of freedom do not fit in a lattice or medium, and glassy behavior is accompanied by additional presence of disorder. The chapters are written by experts in their fields and span experiment and theory, as well as simulations. Frustrated Materials and Ferroic Glasses will be of interest to a wide range of readers in condensed matter physics and materials science.