title: Thin magnetically soft wires for magnetic microsensors.
abstract: Recent advances in technology involving magnetic materials require development of novel advanced magnetic materials with improved magnetic and magneto-transport properties and with reduced dimensionality. Therefore magnetic materials with outstanding magnetic characteristics and reduced dimensionality have recently gained much attention. Among these magnetic materials a family of thin wires with reduced geometrical dimensions (of order of 1-30 μm in diameter) have gained importance within the last few years. These thin wires combine excellent soft magnetic properties (with coercivities up to 4 A/m) with attractive magneto-transport properties (Giant Magneto-impedance effect, GMI, Giant Magneto-resistance effect, GMR) and an unusual re-magnetization process in positive magnetostriction compositions exhibiting quite fast domain wall propagation. In this paper we overview the magnetic and magneto-transport properties of these microwires that make them suitable for microsensor applications.
authors.affiliation: Dpto. Física de Materiales, Facultad de Química, UPV/EHU, P.O. Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal, 3, 20018, San Sebastián, Spain; E-Mails:  valentina.zhukova@ehu.es  (V.Z.);  mihail.ipatov@ehu.es  (M.I.).
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zhukova
authors.forename: Mihail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ipatov
authors.forename: Arcady
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zhukov