Single molecule magnets: a new class of magnetic materials

Recently it has been discovered that some molecules comprising a large number of coupled metal ions show slow relaxation of the magnetization at low temperature. This gives rise to magnetic hysteresis effects of molecular origin which in principle allow the storage of information in a single molecule (Single molecule magnets). A short overview of the current status of research in this field is provided. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.