The latest development in biomedical applications of magnetic nanoparticles is to combine diagnosis and therapy into “theranostics” in which the same particles are used for, e.g. imaging and magnetic hyperthermia (a cancer therapy in which the particles heat up malignant tissue). Such combinations put strong demands on the required particle properties. In response, lithographic fabrication techniques based on multilayer magnetic thin films are being explored to define particles out of a multilayer stack in which two ferromagnetic layers are antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled: synthetic antiferromagnetic particles.

Despite their excellent properties in static magnetic fields, the absence of thermal switching in these large particles leads to the loss of desirable functional dynamic behavior in alternating magetic fields. In this project, we aim to fabricate particles that retain their superparamagnetic switching behaviour, and are therefore uniquely suited for use in theranostics.