Sanyal, B: Advanced Functional Materials

Spintronics, or spin-based electronics, has been at the forefront of materials research for the past decade due to its enormous potential applications in technological devices that are in daily usage in modern society. Apart from a major application in magnetic storage devices, semiconductor spintronics has been proposed and partially verified as a better alternative to conventional charge-based electronics. An enormous effort has been made worldwide, both experimentally and theoretically, to understand the basic properties of magnetic semiconductors as a potential candidate in this new technology. In this book, these issues are discussed from theoretical and experimental points of view, especially the electron correlations and electronic structure characterization by spectroscopic methods and growth of magnetic semiconductors. In addition, multiferroic materials are also studied as an example of multifunctional materials where ferroelectricity and magnetism combine to exhibit novel properties. The book concludes with a review of the exotic properties of today's most sensational material, i.e., graphene, the two dimensional form of graphite, with a focus on magnetism, contributing to the ongoing debate regarding sp magnetism in carbon materials. In summary, this book provides an excellent basis for the understanding of advanced multifunctional materials from both theory and experiment.