Abstract
In 1935 the fictional detective Dick Tracy predicted that "the nation that controls magnetism will control the universe". In accordance with these prophetic words, the field of magnetism has experienced an incredible expansion in both basic and applied research over the past 15 years. Much of this interest has been motivated by a number of factors: the ever-increasing demand for miniaturization; the ability to make nanometre-scale features; the desire for novel materials that exhibit properties not encountered naturally; and by applications such as magnetic sensors, memories and recording heads.