Porous alumina forms on the surface of aluminum in a self organized manner when anodized in an acid under specific conditions. Such templates have recently emerged as an important self-assembly method for nanofabrication.They can be used in different ways to synthesize self-assembled arrays of nanowires and nanodots of a variety of materials, such as metals, alloys, binary compounds, and multilayers. Characterization of these materials can easily be achieved by releasing the nanowires from the template. Magnetic, electric, transport, and optical measurements all contribute toward the...