Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
We report on a novel promising technique for the investigation of magnetic structures at surfaces at high spatial resolution, ultimately down to the atomic scale. This technique is based on the observation of vacuum tunneling of spin-polarized electrons by means of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). We discuss appropriate probe tips for the spin-polarized STM (SPSTM) and describe initial experimental results. We further focus on the information obtained by SPSTM. Finally, the perspectives of SPSTM will be discussed.