Effective magnetization of rotating free ferromagnetic metal clusters

The deflection of free magnetic metal clusters in a Stern-Gerlach magnetic field is studied. In particular we investigate magnetic resonance effects resulting from lattice anisotropy and cluster rotation. In analogy to small suspended particles in an oscillating magnetic field the anisotropy field fixed to the rotating atomic lattice of the cluster acts on the cluster magnetization like an rf field in NMR experiments. In our calculation we have used the Bloch equations and assumed different anisotropy field symmetries (uniaxial, cubic). A minimum in the magnetization as a function of the Stern-Gerlach field and also of the cluster size, as observed recently, is obtained under certain conditions. However, such a resonance behavior occurs only if the distribution of the rotation frequency _rot is relatively narrow, while a broad distribution of _rot yields an almost superparamagnetic behavior. In addition, the strength of the anisotropy field and the relaxation time are important variables which determine the magnetic behavior of the clusters.