Customer Reviews

The Physical Principles of Magnetism

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Forgive the oxymoronic title of this review - magnetism is nothing if not quantum mechanical - my description refers to the book's 'classic' coverage of magnetism as it stood more than 40 years ago when it was first published (1965). Moorish covers the physical principles of magnetism at a level appropriate for 1st- or 2nd-year graduate student in physics, electrical engineering, or physical chemistry for a student who has had a course in condensed matter (solid-state) physics.
The background required for use of the book as a text or reference is therefore reasonably modest and the formalistic aspects of the presentation are also modest: there are no Green's functions or density matrix formalism to surmount. I therefore rate the book on the strength of the quality of what it does present: a clear pedagogical survey of magnetic principles. There is a brief review of electromgnetic theory, diamagnetism, and paramagnetism at the undergraduate level in the first two chapters. The third chapter gives a good resume of thermodynamic functions for magnetism (much clearer than is typical for physics texts), and a dated but useful introduction to relaxation and resonance phenomena. Chapter 4 covers NMR of solids and is, of course, very dated but still useful as background to modern texts (the principles haven't changed). Chapters 5 and 6 cover magnetic properties of metals and superconductors somewhat more completely than, but at the same level as, Bleaney & Bleaney's book, "Electricity and Magnetism". The de Haas-van Alphen effect is discussed reasonably well, but is probably clearer in Ashcroft and Mermin's "Solid State Physics". The next four chapters (6 through 9) provide a strong introduction to ordered magnetic materials: Ferromagnetism, Ferromagnetic Materials, Antiferromagnetism, and Ferrimagnetism. The emphasis is on the general quantum mechanical underpinnings of macroscopic magnetic and thermal properties and this is very well done. Information describing the experimental aspects and theoretical understanding of microscopic properties of magnetic materials is sparse - but this is a 40(+)-year old book! A person interested in pursuing research in magnetic materials will gain much from study of this book, but will have to read much more to update this material. Nevertheless, Morrish provides an excellent foundation.