David J. Sellmyer was educated at the University of Illinois and Michigan State University, where he received B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics. He was Assistant and Associate Professor of Materials Science at MIT, before moving to the University of Nebraska in 1972. He served two terms as Chairman of Physics, and is now George Holmes Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Materials Research and Analysis and an NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. He has published more than 370 articles and reviews in the areas of electronic structure and magnetism in metallic compounds and alloys, random magnetism and phase transitions in magnetic glasses, magnetic properties of rare earth-iron permanent-magnet materials, and magnetism and magneto-optics of cluster-assembled and self-assembled nanostructures.

Advanced magnetic nanostructures is an emerging field in magnetism and nanotechnology, but the literature consists of a rich variety of original papers and parts of reviews and books whose scope is comparatively broad. This calls for a book with specific emphasis on state-of-the-art synthetic methods for fabricating, characterizing and theoretically modeling new magnetic nanostructures. This book is intended to provide a comprehensive overview of the present state of the field. Leading researchers world-wide have contributed a survey of their special ties to guide the reader through the exploding literature in nanomagnetic structures.

The focus is on deliberately structured nanomagnets. It includes cluster assembled, self-organized and patterned thin films but excludes, for example, multilayered thin films. We target both industrial and academic researchers in magnetism and related areas, such as nanotechnology, materials science, and theoretical solid-state physics.