  New observational techniques and sophisticated modelling methods has led to
dramatic breakthroughs in our understanding of the interplay between the
surface magnetism, atomic diffusion and atmospheric dynamics in chemically
peculiar stars. Magnetic Doppler images, constructed using spectropolarimetric
observations of Ap stars in all four Stokes parameters, reveal the presence of
small-scale field topologies. Abundance Doppler mapping has been perfected to
the level where distributions of many different chemical elements can be
deduced self-consistently for one star. The inferred chemical spot structures
are diverse and do not always trace underlying magnetic field geometry.
Moreover, horizontal chemical inhomogeneities are discovered in non-magnetic CP
stars and evolving chemical spots are observed for the first time in the bright
mercury-manganese star alpha And. These results show that in addition to
magnetic fields, another important non-magnetic structure formation mechanism
acts in CP stars.
