Distribution of switching fields in magnetic granular materials

Abstract

We present analytical calculations and kinetic Monte-Carlo modeling of rate-dependent behavior of switching field distributions (SFDs) in an ensemble of Stoner-Wohfarth particles, assuming distributions of anisotropies and volumes, and thermal activation included by the Néel-Brown theory. By applying probabilistic arguments, we show that the SFD can be self-consistently separated into the contribution from distributions of intrinsic properties of particles and the (irreducible) contribution resulting solely from thermal fluctuations, which is shown to become a significant effect at sweep rates relevant to the recording process. This provides a unifying framework for systematic analysis of different classes of systems.