A nanomagnet is a submicrometric system that presents spontaneous magnetic order ( magnetization) at zero applied magnetic field ( remanence). The small size of nanomagnets prevents the formation of magnetic domains (see

single domain (magnetic) Single domain, in magnetism, refers to the state of a ferromagnet in which the magnetization does not vary across the magnet. A magnetic particle that stays in a single domain state for all magnetic fields is called a single domain particle (but o ...

). The magnetization dynamics of sufficiently small nanomagnets at low temperatures, typically

single-molecule magnets A single-molecule magnet (SMM) is a metal-organic compound that has superparamagnetic behavior below a certain blocking temperature at the molecular scale. In this temperature range, a SMM exhibits magnetic hysteresis of purely molecular origin. ...

, presents quantum phenomena, such as macroscopic spin tunnelling. At larger temperatures, the magnetization undergoes random thermal fluctuations ( superparamagnetism) which present a limit for the use of nanomagnets for permanent information storage. Canonical examples of nanomagnets are grains of ferromagnetic metals (

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, p ...

, and

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...

) and single-molecule magnets. The vast majority of nanomagnets feature

transition metal In chemistry, a transition metal (or transition element) is a chemical element in the d-block of the periodic table (groups 3 to 12), though the elements of group 12 (and less often group 3) are sometimes excluded. They are the elements that ca ...

(

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...

, vanadium, chromium,

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

, iron, cobalt or nickel) or rare earth (

Gadolinium Gadolinium is a chemical element with the symbol Gd and atomic number 64. Gadolinium is a silvery-white metal when oxidation is removed. It is only slightly malleable and is a ductile rare-earth element. Gadolinium reacts with atmospheric oxygen ...

, Europium,

Erbium Erbium is a chemical element with the symbol Er and atomic number 68. A silvery-white solid metal when artificially isolated, natural erbium is always found in chemical combination with other elements. It is a lanthanide, a rare-earth element, or ...

) magnetic atoms. The ultimate limit in miniaturization of nanomagnets was achieved in 2016: individual Ho atoms present remanence when deposited on a atomically thin layer of MgO coating a silver film was reported by scientists from EPFL and ETH, in Switzerland. Before that, the smallest nanomagnets reported, attending to the number of magnetic atoms, were double decker phthalocyanes molecules with only one rare-earth atom. Other systems presenting remanence are nanoengineered Fe chains, deposited on Cu₂N/Cu(100) surfaces, showing either Neel or ferromagnetic ground states with in systems with as few as 5 Fe atoms with S=2. Canonical single-molecule magnets are the so-called Mn₁₂ and Fe₈ systems, with 12 and 8 transition metal atoms each and both with spin 10 (S = 10) ground states. The phenomenon of zero field magnetization requires three conditions: # A ground state with finite spin # A magnetic anisotropy energy barrier # Long spin relaxation time. Conditions 1 and 2, but not 3, have been demonstrated in a number of nanostructures, such as

nanoparticle A nanoparticle or ultrafine particle is usually defined as a particle of matter that is between 1 and 100 nanometres (nm) in diameter. The term is sometimes used for larger particles, up to 500 nm, or fibers and tubes that are less than 10 ...

s, nanoislands, and quantum dots with a controlled number of magnetic atoms (between 1 and 10).

References

Further reading