Magnetic nanowires

We review recent developments in the research on magnetic nanowires electrodeposited into pores of membranes. Typical nanowires fabricated by this method have a diameter in the range 30-500 nm for a length of the order of 10 mu m, and can be composed of a stack of layers of different metals with thicknesses in the nanometer range (multilayered nanowires). We describe the preparation methods and present typical examples of structural characterization. We review the magnetic properties with examples of results on both arrays of nanowires and isolated nanowires. We then describe the magnetoresistance properties of multilayered nanowires, and their interest for their understanding of the CPP-GMR and the determination of spin diffusion lengths. The last section is an overview on the perspectives of future research. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.