Molecular Nanomagnets

Nanomagnetism is a rapidly expanding area of research which appears to be able to provide novel applications. Magnetic molecules are at the very bottom of the possible size of nanomagnets and they provide a unique opportunity to observe the coexistence of classical and quantum properties. The discovery in the early 90's that a cluster comprising twelve manganese ions shows hysteresis of molecular origin, and later proved evidence of quantum effects, opened a new research area which is still flou…