Magnetism encompasses a wide range of systems and physical phenomena,
and its study has posed and exposed both important fundamental problems
and many practical applications.
Recently, several entirely new phenomena have thus been discovered,
generated through cooperative behaviour which could not have been
predicted from a knowledge of `one-spin' states. At the same time,
advances in sample preparation, experimental technique, apparatus and
radiation sources, have led to increasing precision in the investigation
and exposure of greater subtleties in magnetic thin films, multilayers
and other systems.
Examples of unexpected and conceptually new phenomena occur in strongly
correlated and fluctuating quantum systems, producing effects such as
Haldane and spin-Peierls gaps, solitons, quantum spin glasses and spin
liquids. The discovery and elucidation of these `emerging properties'
is a central theme in modern condensed matter physics.
The present book comprises a series of chapters by world experts,
covering both theoretical and experimental aspects. The approach is
pedagogical and tutorial, but fully up to date, covering the latest
research. The level is appropriate to graduate researchers who may
either be just moving into the field or who are already active in
condensed matter physics.