IEEE Magnetics Society Distinguished Lecturers for 2015

Most thin magnetic films have their magnetization in the plane of the film because of shape anisotropy. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in thin magnetic films that exhibit a magnetization easy axis along the surface normal due to so-called perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). PMA has its origins in the symmetry breaking that occurs at surfaces and interfaces and can be strong enough to dominate the magnetic properties of some material systems. In this talk, I explain the physics of such materials and show how the magnetic properties associated with PMA are often very well suited to applications. I show three different examples of real and potential applications of PMA materials: ultralow power spin-transfer-torque magnetic RAM devices for low-energy computing, three-dimensional (3-D) magnetic logic structures, and a novel form of cancer therapy.