Physics & Astronomy

Nanomagnetism is the study of the magnetic properties of materials at the nanometric scale. Examples of magnetic nanostructures are magnetic domains in ferromagnetic thin films and bulk materials, or assemblies of superparamagnetic nanoparticles. Many of these materials present potential interests for technological applications, as magnetic data storage industry.  We are interested more fundamentally in characterizing the spatial morphology of such magnetic nanostructures and their behavior under the influence of temperature, external magnetic field and magnetic history. We use various tools to investigate these parameters:

The Magnetic force microscopy (MFM) gives the possibility to image magnetic domains, through the dipolar interaction between the microscope probe and the magnetic stray field ariding from the surface of the sample. We are currently using MFM to investigate the striped magnetic domains in CoPt films, as well as try to image the magnetic state of magnetite nanoparticles.

The Magnetometry techniques allow the investigation of the magnetization behavior of a material under an in-situ magnetic field. We are planning to implement a Hall Effect magnetometer, as well as a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer. These devices will measure the magnetization as a function of magnetic field up to 1T. in particular this will allow the measurement of hysteresis loop. 

X-ray spectroscopy techniques give access to very small spatial and temporal scale information, by using the X-ray light produced by synchrotron radiation sources. We are using more specifically X-ray magnetic dichroism as well as X-ray magnetic scattering to investigate both the electronic amd magnetic properties of the material. Furthermore we use coherent X-ray light at specific wavelengths in order to investigate the local morphology of the materials.

List of publications

Group members

Karine Chesnel CV