Controlling magnetic materials on the nanoscale plays a key role in our society, having enabled for instance the development of thin film hard disk media, which has brought our ability to store and share information to unprecedented levels. Today, beyond hard disks, nanomagnetism offers key advantages over alternative technological approaches, including intrinsic non-volatility and very low power consumption, with devices such as Magnetic Random-Access Memory (MRAM) close to largescale production.

Within this field, most magnetic nanostructures are intrinsically 2D in nature, in part due to continued exploitation of sophisticated (2D) thin film processing techniques. While planar geometries have given rise to a multitude of functionalities and devices, it is now becoming apparent that to address the fundamental bottlenecks faced by current technologies, a paradigm shift is required.

A radically-new approach to overcome current fundamental limits, consisting of moving to more complex, hierarchical systems that exploit three-dimensional (3D) magnetic configurations and geometries. 3D nanoscale magnetic phenomena broadly open up a range of strategies for enhancing computation, sensing and communication technologies. For example, the increased complexity within 3D interacting magnetic networks offers the opportunity for increased complexity in neuromorphic computation analogues, while the massive degeneracy in reconfigurable 3D artificial magnetic crystals offers new prospects in spin-wave logic and communication devices.

Beyond a device perspective, wholly new physics are predicted to emerge in 3D. This includes new magneto-chiral effects in curved geometries, novel spin configurations, ultra-fast motion of spin textures, novel interplay mechanisms between spatial and spin topologies, and strong coupling between magnetism and temperature or strain, to cite a few.

Our group is developing a cutting-edge research program on 3D nanomagnetism, having reported some of the most advanced experimental works in 3D nanomagnetism to date. This includes multiple areas, including 3D nanofabrication, magneto-optics, X-ray microscopy and new effects in multi-layered systems. The main research areas in which we are currently working are explained below. For more details, see our Publications.