Special Issue "Theoretical Description of the Spin Dynamics at the Nanoscale "

Dear Colleagues,

A complete theoretical understanding of the electron’s spin dynamics at the nanoscale is fundamental to further utilize it in advanced device concepts with reduced power consumption. A fundamental challenge here is to bridge the gap between our ability to study and manipulate spin dynamics at the microscopic scale and our desire to understand and predict how this impacts the emergent properties at a macroscopic scale. Spin dynamics are triggered by magnetic, electric, and thermal stimuli with tailored time and length scales, ranging from femtosecond to years, and nanometers to millimetres. At the same time, the specific responses are generally determined by the time and length scales of the exchange, spin–orbit, dipolar interactions, anisotropy or thermalactivation. Examples include the electron current spin control in spintronics, femtosecond optical laser-induced ultrafast spin dynamics, magnetic and electric field-driven magnonic effects, or oscillating magnetic field heating of magnetic nanoparticles for harmless cancer treatments. The long-term focus of research in the theory of spin dynamics is to formulate a robust theoretical understanding of complex spin systems in terms of a minimal set of constitutive equations, bridging a broad spectrum of length and time scales, the so-called multiscale models.

This Special Issue of Materials is aimed at providing a collection of papers focusing on the theoretical description of the spin dynamics covering multiple scales, with special emphasis on multiscale approaches. Spin or magnetization dynamics on ferro-, ferrimagnets, and antiferromagnets at the nanoscale, such as thin films, multilayers, or nanoparticles, are welcome. The theories of interest include but are not limited to:

• Micromagnetic theory for magnetization dynamics;
• Atomistic spin dynamics models;
• Ab initio calculation of atomic magnetic parameters;
• Time-dependent density function theory for spin dynamics.

It is my pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Dr. Unai Atxitia
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Atomistic models for ultrafast spin dynamics
• Micromagnetic theory for spintronics applications
• Beyond atomistic models, time-dependent DFT
• Multiscale modeling of nanostructures, from nanoparticles to multilayers