ISSN:
1089-7550
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
Conventionally, the simulation of thin films has been carried out using an HCP structure to represent its physical structure. Such an idealized structure has been shown to overestimate the effect of interparticle coupling by using an homogeneous exchange coupling scheme. A more realistic approach to represent physical structure has been undertaken by generating a system of grains which lie on a radially isotropic structure and have a nonuniform volume distribution. Interaction effects can be shown by computing δI curves formed through the comparison of the remanence curves using the Wohlfarth relation. To generate an isothermal remanence curve (IRM), a realistic ac erased state is necessary which has been carried out by using a simulated annealing technique. A comparison has been made to determine the effect of physical structure on the bulk properties by computing hysteresis loops, remanence curves, and δI curves. To reduce statistical error these have been averaged over four different sets of easy axes. The loops indicate that an irregular physical structure leads to an increase in the coercivity and decrease in the squareness. The dc-demagnetization curves show an increase in remanent coercivity; this can be attributed to the random physical structure decreasing the size of magnetically correlated regions within the microstructure. The effect of the physical microstructure on the δI curves will be discussed in full in the paper. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.361585
