Nanomagnets are at the limit between a molecular complex and the bulk state. From a fundamental standpoint, the effects due to the small size of the system and particularly the increasing surface to volume ratio are likely to bring about new properties. Nanoparticles have found numerous applications in areas such as magnetic information storage, catalysis, biotechnology, medical diagnostics and energy. In this work, nanoparticles of 1.5 to 5 nm in diameter were synthesized by low energy cluster beam deposition (LECBD) and encapsulated in different matrices. As a first step, model systems based on cobalt nanoparticles strongly diluted in different matrices were fabricated in order to study more precisely the intrinsic properties of the nanomagnets. The continuation of this work consisted in increasing the concentration of nanoparticles in order to characterize the influence of interactions on the macroscopic magnetic behavior of the particles. Finally, after the development of tools to accurately determine the properties of model systems, these tools have been applied to bimetallic systems of significant theoretical and applicative interest (FeRh and FeAu). In particular, this work shows that after annealing under ultrahigh vacuum, the FeRh alloy nanoparticles in a carbon matrix show a phase transition A1 to B2 with no trace of pollution or coalescence. This transition has been demonstrated structurally by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and magnetically by SQUID magnetometry and X-ray magnetic dichroism (XMCD).
