The Interaction of Microwaves with Materials of Different Properties

Electromagnetic radiation, such as microwaves, are all the time reflected, transmitted, and/or absorbed by any kind of matter, glasses, conductors, water, ferrites, and so forth. Magnetic materials absorb greatly microwaves. The more magnetic, the more microwaves are absorbed. The aim of this chapter is to present the fundamental physics of the absorption of microwave power (energy per unit time) by ferrimagnetic and ferromagnetic matter in the nano and micro size scale. The magnetic moments and their collective modes are the basic microscopic absorbers under in-resonance and out-of-resonance conditions. Experimental setups and measurement techniques are described. The profiles of microwave absorption are described and connected to the micromagnetic environment that elicits such absorption. Section by section and the overall microwave power absorption profiles are related to the micromagnetic structures. Emphasis is made on nano- and micromagnets. These interactions of microwaves with nano- and micromagnets serve to infer microscopic magnetic information