NanoMagnetism

The research of the Michels group is centered around the technique of magnetic small-angle neutron scattering (SANS).

• Theoretical and simulation work is carried out in order to understand and develop the fundamentals of magnetic SANS. More specifically, we use the continuum theory of micromagnetics for computing the magnetic SANS cross section of real materials, which is determined by microstructural-defect-induced spin disorder.
• Based on the theory work, we employ SANS for experimentally studying the mesoscopic spin structures of magnetic materials, including Nd-Fe-B-based and rare-earth-free MnBi permanent magnets, Heusler alloys, or magnetic nanoparticles.
• The group is regularly present at the major neutron facilities worldwide such as the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), or the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI).
• Here you can find a recent review about magnetic SANS with applications to magnetic nanocomposites, Nd-Fe-B-based permanent magnets, magnetic steels, ferrofluids and nanoparticles, complex magnetic oxides, skyrmion crystals, noncollinear magnetic structures in noncentrosymmetric compounds, and vortex lattices in type-II superconductors.