ABSTRACT
The vocation of science relates structure with function, identifying
the links between physical forms and their properties. The science
of solids is no exception; indeed, the field is home to a provocatively
rich-perhaps infinite-variety of possibilities in the form of phys-
iochemical structure. Despite this diversity, there are apparently
only a few electronic phases of bulk solids, namely insulators,
semiconductors, metals, and superconductors [1]. Meanwhile, the
origin of magnetic properties concerns the formation of and
communication between magnetic moments within a solid; this
includes the magnitudes of these moments, the sign and strength of
the coupling between them, and the range over which the resultant
magnetic order extends. The origins of all of these phenomena are
electronic at their foundation. We can agree that atomic moments
may arise from the orbital motion of electrons; however, in a solid, it happens that the orbital contribution is usually very small in comparison to that of the intrinsic, spin magnetic moment
of unpaired electrons [2]. It is the case that the spin-dependent
interaction of electrons constitutes the primary basis for describing
magnetism in a solid-the interactions require descriptions of
electronic overlap within the context of both real space and binding
energy space.
