ELECTRONIC-STRUCTURE CALCULATIONS FOR MAGNETICALLY ORDERED SYSTEMS

Although magnetism was known to the ancients, its uses before modern times were very limited. The compass was probably the most important application before the 19th century. After Oersted’s discovery, in 1820, that magnets interact with electric currents, the number of applications grew rapidly. The classical union of electricity and magnetism culminated, of course, in Maxwell’s beautiful theory of the electromagnetic field. Density functional theory calculated on fast computers is a powerful tool for describing magnetic phenomena in solids. It can even handle magnetic anisotropy in layered systems. © 1995, American Institute of Physics. All rights reserved.