Hysteresis in small arrays of interacting magnetic nanoparticles

The out-of-plane hysteresis loops of small arrays of magnetic nanoparticles, under the influence of an external field applied perpendicular to the array and the dipolar interaction are investigated. The particles are assumed to have a perpendicular anisotropy energy that tends to align the magnetic moments to be perpendicular to the array. The magnetization is found to exhibit a plateaux-and-jumps structure as the external field is swept up and down. These jumps are associated with jumps in the energy of the system, and correspond to transition from one configuration of the moment orientation to another. The energy of different configurations of the magnetic moments for a 3×3 array in the limit of weak dipolar interaction is analyzed, as a means to understand the hysteresis loop. These jumps are more pronounced in arrays of smaller sizes and when the dipolar interaction is weak. The configuration of magnetic moments at zero external field as the field is swept up and down is found to be highly sensitive to the dipolar interaction.     

Magnetization of nanomagnet assemblies: Effects of anisotropy and dipolar interactions

We investigate the effect of anisotropy and weak dipolar interactions on the magnetization of an assembly of nanoparticles with distributed magnetic moments, i.e., assembly of magnetic nanoparticles in the one-spin approximation, with textured or random anisotropy. The magnetization of a free particle is obtained either by a numerical calculation of the partition function or analytically in the low and high field regimes, using perturbation theory and the steepest-descent approximation, respectively. The magnetization of an interacting assembly is computed analytically in the range of low and high field, and numerically using the Monte Carlo technique. Approximate analytical expressions for the assembly magnetization are provided which take account of the dipolar interactions, temperature, magnetic field, and anisotropy. The effect of anisotropy and dipolar interactions are discussed and the deviations from the Langevin law they entail are investigated, and illustrated for realistic assemblies with the lognormal moment distribution.     

Monte Carlo calculation of the magnetization behavior and the magnetocaloric effect of interacting particles

The magnetization behavior and the magnetic entropy change of a system made up of ferromagnetically interacting particles are calculated by using Monte Carlo simulation. The effect of the magnetic anisotropy of particles and the dipolar–dipolar interaction between particles on the magnetization and the magnetic entropy change of the system are discussed. It is found that there is no spontaneous magnetization, both the magnetic anisotropy of particles and the dipolar–dipolar interaction between particles restrains the system's magnetizing in the external magnetic field. The magnetic entropy change decreases with the increase in temperature in the system without the dipolar–dipolar interaction; however, the dipolar–dipolar interaction between particles makes the magnetic entropy change of the system have maximum value at low temperatures.     

Magnetic particles with shifted dipoles

We present simulations and analytical calculations for a system of magnetic nano-particles that possess a dipole moment that is shifted out of the center of mass, towards the surface, leading to a further asymmetry of the dipolar interaction. In our contribution, we discuss the peculiarities of ground state small clusters, both, with and without an external magnetic field. Small clusters help us to get an insight into the inter-particle interactions and form a building block for studies of larger systems. Without external magnetic field, the ground state structure changes from chains and rings with parallel alignment of moments, usually observed in dipolar particles (Prokopieva et al., 2009 [1]), to pairs and triangles with close to anti-parallel orientation of moments, when the shift of the dipole is increased. We also present magnetization properties of larger systems at finite temperature and observe the influence of the shift in particular on the initial slope of the magnetization curve, namely, the initial susceptibility.     

Magnetization in uniaxial spherical nanoparticles: Consequence on the interparticle interaction

We investigate the interaction between spherical magnetic nanoparticles which present either a single domain or a vortex structure. First the magnetic structure of a uniaxial soft sphere is revisited, and then the interaction energy is calculated from a micromagnetic simulation. In the vortex regime the orientation of the vortex relative to the easy axis depends on both the particle size and the anisotropy constant. We show that the leading term of the interaction is the dipolar interaction energy between the magnetic moments. For particles presenting a vortex structure, we show that the polarization due to the dipolar field must be included. The parameters entering in the dipolar interaction are deduced from the magnetic behavior of the isolated particle.     

Dynamic effects of dipolar interactions on the magnetic behavior of magnetite nanoparticles

Isothermal magnetization and initial dc susceptibility of spheroidal, nearly monodisperse magnetite nanoparticles (typical diameter: 8 nm) prepared by a standard thermo-chemical route have been measured between 10 and 300 K. The samples contained magnetite nanoparticles in the form of either a dried powder (each nanoparticle being surrounded by a stable oleic acid shell as a result of the preparation procedure) or a solid dispersion in PEGDA-600 polymer; different nanoparticle (NP) concentrations in the polymer were studied. In all samples the NPs were not tightly agglomerated nor their ferromagnetic cores were directly touching. The high-temperature inverse magnetic susceptibility is always found to follow a linear law as a function of T, crossing the horizontal axis at negative temperatures ranging from 175 to about 1,000 K. The deviation from the standard superparamagnetic behavior is related to dipolar interaction among NPs; however, a careful analysis makes it hard to conclude that such a behavior originates from a dominant antiferromagnetic character of the interaction. The results are well explained considering that the studied samples are in the interacting superparamagnetic (ISP) regime. The ISP model is basically a mean field theory which allows one to straightforwardly account for the role of magnetic dipolar interaction in a NP system. The model predicts the existence of specific scaling laws for the reduced magnetization which have been confirmed in all studied samples. The interaction of each magnetic dipole moment with the local, random dipolar field produced by the other dipoles results in the presence of a large fluctuating energy term whose magnitude is comparable to the static barrier for magnetization reversal/rotation related to magnetic anisotropy. On the basis of the existing theories on thermal crossing of a barrier whose height randomly fluctuates in time it is predicted that the rate of barrier crossing is substantially driven by the rate of barrier fluctuations, which is fast (10⁸–10⁹ Hz) and almost independent of temperature. As a consequence, the standard picture of superparamagnetic NPs which undergo single-particle blocking by a static barrier below the blocking temperature should be substantially revised, at least in the present materials. The ISP model is perfectly matching with the view of activated magnetization rotation whose kinetics is significantly modified by barrier height fluctuations.     

The role of dipolar interactions for the magnetic properties of ferromagnetic nanoring

We investigate numerically the effects of the dipolar interactions on magnetic properties in small ferromagnetic nanorings using a Monte Carlo technique. Our simulated results show that the strength of dipolar interaction in the magnetic nanoring has an important influence on the magnetization reversal processes and further the coercivity and the remanence. As the dipolar interaction increases, the transition of magnetization reversal processes from the onion-rotation state to the vortex state can occur, which results in an increase in coercivity and a decrease in remanence. On the other hand, it is found that the coercivity and the remanence depend more strongly on the strength of dipolar coupling for the relatively small size nanoring than for the large size nanoring in width. This can be attributed to the stable vortex state without core in smaller width nanoring in contrast to the metastable vortex state with core in larger width nanoring, induced by strong dipolar interactions. Additionally, the temperature dependence of coercivity and remanence in magnetic nanoring is also studied at a fixed dipolar interaction.     

Control of spins in a nano-sized magnet using electric-current

With the development of spintronics,spin-transfer torque control of magnetic properties receives considerable attention.In this paper the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation including the torque term is used to investigate the magnetic moment dynamics in the free layer of the ferromagnet/non-magnetic/ferromagnet(FM1/N/FM2) structures.It is found that the reverse critical time τ_c decreases with the current increasing.The critical time τ_c as a function of current for the perpendicular and parallel easy magnetic axes are the same.The critical time τ_c increases with the damping factor α increasing.In the case of large current the influence of the damping factor α is smaller,but in the case of little torque the critical time τ_c increases greatly with the damping increasing.The direction of the magnetization in the fixed layer influences the critical time,when the angle between the magnetization and the z direction changes from 0.1π to 0.4π,the critical time τ_c decreases from 26.7 to 15.6.     

Coupling of ferromagnetic nanoparticles through dipolar interactions

We consider two ferromagnetic nanoparticles coupled via long-range dipolar interactions. We model each particle by a three-dimensional array of classical spin vectors, with a central spin surrounded by a variable number of shells. Within each particle only ferromagnetic coupling between nearest neighbor spins is considered. The interaction between particles is of the dipolar type and the magnetic properties of the system is studied as a function of temperature and distance between the centers of the particles. We perform Monte Carlo simulations for particles with different number of shells, and the magnetic properties are calculated via two routes concerning the dipolar contribution: one assuming a mean-field like coupling between effective magnetic moments at the center of the particles, and other one, where we take into account interactions among all the pairs of spins, one in each particle. We show that the dipolar coupling between the particles enhances the critical temperature of the system relative to the case in which the particles are very far apart. The dipolar energy between the particles is smaller when the assumption of effective magnetic moment of the particles is used in the calculations.     

Acoustic excitation of nuclear spin waves in the easy-plane antiferromagnetic material KMnF3

Ultrasound damping at T=4.2 K in single crystal easy-plane antiferromagnetic KMnF₃ is studied experimentally as a function of the magnitude and direction of a constant magnetic field H at frequencies of 640–670 MHz, corresponding to the frequencies of nuclear spin waves. Two experimental situations are examined: in the first, the vector H lies in the easy magnetization plane (001), and in the second, H forms an angle with (001). For longitudinal ultrasound waves propagating along the hard magnetization axis [001], it is found that the damping depends resonantly on the magnitude of the field H. In the first case a single damping maximum is observed, and in the second, two damping peaks that are well resolved with respect to the field. The angular dependence of the resonance damping signals on the direction of the constant magnetic field is found to have a 90° periodicity in all cases. The observed effects are explained by resonant ultrasonic excitation of nuclear spin waves. On the basis of an analysis of the magnetoacoustic interaction energy, it is shown that in the first case, nonzero oscillations of the antiferromagnetism vector L occur only in the basal plane, while in the second, oscillations of L occur both in the basal and a vertical plane, which are associated, respectively, with two branches of the nuclear spin waves. It is also shown that the 90° periodicity in the angular dependence of the damping signals is associated with a fourth order [001] axis. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 112, 1830–1840 (November 1997)     

Dynamics of solenoidal magnetic structures in soft magnetic thin-film elements

We report on the dynamics of magnetic domain structure conversions exhibited by soft magnetic thin-film elements of elementary geometrical shape (square, disc, triangle) when exposed to a strong external magnetic field. Starting from flux closure vortex patterns, the magnetic structures evolve towards an in-plane saturated state under the influence of an external field. This irreversible and nucleation-free magnetization process occurs on the time scale of picoseconds. The details of this conversion are investigated by means of a time-resolved micromagnetic finite element modeling. We find a sensitive dependence of the temporal evolution of the magnetic structure on the value of the damping parameter in Gilbert's equation of motion. In the case of high damping, domain wall motion dominates the process, while lower damping leads to the formation of a 360° wall which collapses by emitting magnetization waves. It is shown that the mobility of vortices is generally much lower than that of domain walls. The calculations indicate that at a low damping, a magnetic vortex can act almost as a source for concentric waves in ferromagnetic thin-film elements.     

Decagonal quasiferromagnetic microstructure on the penrose tiling

The stable magnetization configurations of a ferromagnet on a quasiperiodic tiling have been derived theoretically. The magnetization configuration is investigated as a function of the ratio of the exchange to the dipolar energy. The exchange coupling is assumed to decrease exponentially with the distance between magnetic moments. It is demonstrated that for a weak exchange interaction the new structure, the quasiferromagnetic decagonal configuration, corresponds to the minimum of the free energy. The decagonal state represents a new class of frustrated systems where the degenerated ground state is aperiodic and consists of two parts: ordered decagon rings and disordered spin-glass-like phase inside the decagons.     

Investigation of the dipolar dephasing NMR on organic solids

We present a method based on integro-differential equations describing the¹³C?¹H dipolar dephasing behaviour of carbon magnetization which results from monoprotonated carbons, non-protonated carbons as well as rapidly rotating methyl groups. Good agreement with theoretical calculations and experiment is obtained in ammonium tartrate and durene. The frequently applied empirical methods for determination the ratio of protonated and non-protonated carbons are analyzed. The dipolar dephasing time constants of non-protonated carbons vary substantially as a result, of variation in their heteronuclear second moments and thus in structure. Two different methods are performed for determination heteronuclear second moments from dipolar dephasing data.     

Two-dimensional small particles coupled by dipolar interactions

We study the effect of the dipolar coupling on the magnetic properties of two small interacting ferromagnetic particles. Each particle is a two-dimensional array of Ising spins with a central spin surrounded by a variable number of shells. The coupling between spins inside each particle is ferromagnetic and the dipolar interaction between the particles is determined as a function of the number of shells, temperature, and distance between their centers. We investigate the system by mean-field approximation and Monte Carlo simulations. The dipolar interaction is calculated in two ways, one assuming effective spins in the centers of the particles, and the other directly computing the interactions among all the pairs of spins, one in each particle. We show that the difference in the corresponding dipolar energies is a power law on the distance with exponent 5. We calculate the magnetization and susceptibility as a function of temperature, number of shells and distance between the particles’ centers. We show that the critical temperature increases with the number of spins in each particle, and it is more noticeable in the mean-field calculations than in the Monte Carlo simulations.     

Observing the Einstein-de Haas effect with atoms in an optical lattice

The conservation of magnetization, or atomic spin angular momentum, is broken for anisotropic dipolar interactions. As a result, the Einstein-de Haas effect, or the transfer of spin to spatial angular momentum, arises because the total angular momentum is conserved. We identify the regime for observing this with two 87Rb atoms in a single well, stimulated by the recent result for a condensate. The two-atom system is found to be more easily observed and confirmed with the addition of a periodically modulated magnetic field. Our result of utilizing a feeble dipolar interaction may find potential applications in precision measurements.     

Spontaneous magnetization of the Ising model on a layered square lattice

We have studied the Ising model on a layered square lattice with four different coupling constants and two different magnetic moments. The partition function at zero magnetic field is derived exactly. We propose a formula for the spontaneous magnetization which agrees with the exact low-temperature series expansion up to the 16th order and reduces to the exact result of Au-Yang and McCoy in a special case.     

Experimental evidence of dipolar interaction in bilayer nanocomposite magnets

We use magnetic thin film hard/non/soft-magnetic trilayer systems to probe the nature of the hard–soft phase interaction and the role played by dipolar fields in one-dimensional (d) magnetic systems. We have systematically investigated six wedge samples where the thickness of a Cu spacer layer (t _Cu) was gradually changed to create a varying interfacial effect on the interaction between a CoPt hard layer and a Fe soft layer. Magneto-optical Kerr effect was used to obtain the magnetization loops at 28 points on each sample, and the nucleation field (H _N ) as a function of t _Cu was employed to characterize the layer interaction as a function of t _Cu. H _N (t _Cu) show a RKKY oscillatory behavior in addition to a non-negligible dipolar contribution, which had an exponential dependence. The dipolar term, which cannot be always neglected, is affected by the interface roughness and also by the CoPt crystallinity. Therefore, we cannot always consider exchange coupling to be the dominant interaction in one-d hard–soft magnetic bilayer systems, particularly, during magnetic reversal.     

Magnetization studied on spin alignments in organic molecule-based ferrimagnetics

A physics picture of spin alignments in molecule-based ferrimagnets is presented from studying the temperature dependence of the effective sublattice magnetic moments and the total reduced magnetization by means of Green’s function theory combined with the Jordan-Wigner transformation. The ferrimagnetic chain includes an S=1 biradical and an S=1/2 monoradical with antiferromagnetic alternating interactions, and the S=1 site in the chain is composed of two S=1/2 spins coupled by a finite ferromagnetic interaction. From the calculations of the sublattice magnetic moments, the magnetic moment of the S=1 biradical is negative, while that of the S=1/2 monoradical is positive, leading to a ferrimagnetic ground state. With the different kinds of the elementary excitations and the competition between the magnetic interactions and thermal fluctuations, the temperature dependence of the magnetization displays rich thermodynamic properties. Meanwhile, the external magnetic field dependence of the magnetization has a clear plateau at one third of the saturation magnetization, which can be compared with the possible experimental findings.     

Theoretical simulations of magnetic nanotubes using Monte Carlo method

We present the results of the Monte Carlo simulations of magnetic nanotubes, which are based on the plane structures with the square unit cell at low temperatures. The spin configurations, thermal equilibrium magnetization, magnetic susceptibility and the specific heat are investigated for the nanotubes of different diameters, using armchair or zigzag edges. The dipolar interaction, Heisenberg model interaction and also their combination are considered for both ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic cases. It turns out that the magnetic properties of the nanotubes strongly depend on the form of the rolling up (armchair or zigzag). The effect of dipolar interaction component strongly manifests itself for the small radius nanotubes, while for the larger radius nanotubes the Heisenberg interaction is always dominating. In the thermodynamic part, we have found that the specific heat is always smaller for the nanotubes with smaller radii.     

磁性单层膜磁学性质的Monte Carlo模拟

采用类Ising模型,利用Monte Carlo方法研究了磁性单层膜中退磁性偶极作用和铁磁性交换作用对系统磁学性质的影响.结果显示,随着偶极相互作用的增加,系统在低温下的磁化出现平台现象,此时磁化曲线可分为2个阶段,在低外场下,温度升高,系统易磁化,在高外场下则反之.这种新奇的磁化行为导致系统的磁熵变在低温低外场下出现大于零的反常行为.在模拟过程中,对长程力作用采用了比较精确的处理方法.