EMMI MATERIALS

ESMF-3 will take place in Groningen, NL, Sept. 7-11, 2009

The emphasis of the school will be to combine a pedagogical introduction to the physics of magnetoelectric phenomena with a comprehensive overview of the most recent theoretical and experimental advances in this field of research. EMMI is sponsor of this school, which is a follow-up to the highly successful schools that took place under the auspices of the European Network of Excellence FAME in Grenoble (2007) and Girona (2008).

The topics to be covered include:

• fundamentals of the theory of multiferroic materials with a focus on microscopic mechanisms that describe the magnetoelectric coupling, phenomenological descriptions of coupled orders in multiferroic materials and ab-initio calculations of the magnetically-induced electric polarization
• modern experimental techniques used to study competing phases and novel elementary excitations in materials with coupled magnetic and ferroelectric orders, including resonant X-ray and polarized neutron scatering, and linear and non-linear optical probes
• thin film growth and control of the physical properties of multiferroic materials
• the structure of topological defects, such as domain walls, in materials with several ferroic orders
• applications of multiferroic and magnetoelectric materials, novel multifunctional devices

There are still a few places open for participants. For online registration and detailed information see the school website www.rug.nl/fwn/esmf2009