The Concise Encyclopedia of Magnetic and Superconducting Materials combines in a single volume articles written by leading authorities in these fields, aiming at giving a complete cross-section of the science and technology of magnetic and superconducting materials. It is a successor of the Concise Encyclopedia of Magnetic and Superconducting Materials edited by Jan Evetts and published in 1992. In the present volume, the majority of articles deal with the advances of recent years, combining new developments in the field of magnetism and superconductivity with earlier articles describing the achievements reached in those topological areas that have kept their fires burning. Already many decades ago, physicists have abandoned the idea that the occurrence in the same material of localized magnetic moments and superconductivity is mutually exclusive. The advent of high-Tc superconductors in particular has shown that magnetism and superconductivity are intimately connected and theoretical and experimental studies of the interplay between magnetism and superconductivity have become an area of its own right. But it is not only the strong mutual interest of scientists working in the field of magnetic and superconducting materials that has made it desirable to combine both issues in a single volume. Also from the applications side there is an increasing overlap between superconductivity and magnetism, magnetic bearings based on high-Tc superconductors and superconducting permanent magnets being prominent examples. One can even go one step further and say that electrical conduction and magnetic polarization have increasingly become intertwined in many materials in recent years. The recognition that the magnetoresistive effect can advantageously be utilized in magnetic sensor and read head applications has led to a proliferation of research in this area, eventually culminating in the observation of the giant- and colossal magnetoresistance effects. New exciting phenomena have surfaced including spin-, charge- and orbital ordering in a variety of magnetic and superconducting materials.
