Varieties of magnetic order in solids

Abstract

Abstract Mictomagnetism, metamagnetism, asperomagnetism, sperimagnet-ism, speromagnetism, spin glass or cluster glass—this string of jargon is part of a score or more of new terms recently added to the lexicon of magnetism. Few of them appear in standard textbooks. This article gives an elementary and descriptive review of the new kinds of magnetism and their relationships. We have tried to cover all the new terminology. Starting from the familiar types of magnetic order in solids, we review the consequences of amorphousness and disorder for atomic moments, exchange interactions, and singleion anisotropies. In all, fourteen different types of magnetism are considered.