The group is active in the preparation and characterisation of thin films and spintronic heterostructures, in the development of devices, in the measurement and in the theoretical study of magnetisation dynamics and spintronic effects.

The main activities related to spintronics include:

• Non-collinear magnetic interactions (e.g. Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya);
• Dynamics of domain walls and other magnetic structures (e.g. skyrmions);
• Anisotropic and spin-Hall magnetoresistnace, spin-torque, spin currents, spintronic sensors;
• Spin Seebeck and spin Peltier effects;
• High-frequency investigations of spin waves, surface acoustic waves, ferromagnetic resonance, ST-FMR, spin pumping.

Spintronic devices and ultrathin films require special caracterisation techniques. The following are available:

• Kerr effet microscope (MOKE) for imaging the magnetic domains;
• Magnetic force microscope (MFM) for imaging magnetic nanostructures;
• Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS) for studying transport properties up to 9 T and 2 K;
• 3D field probe station for studying transport properties (80-400 K, < 0.5 T, HF < 20 GHz);
• Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) for studying magnetic properties.

Michaela Kuepferling