Micromagnetic simulation with three models of FeCo/L1_0 FePt exchange-coupled particles for bit-patterned media

Compositing soft and hard materials is a promising method to decrease the coercivity of L10 FePt, which is considered to be a suitable material for bit-patterned media. This paper reports the simulation of three models of FeCo/L10 FePt exchange-coupled composite particles for bit patterned media by the OOMMF micromagnetic simulation software： the enclosed model, the side-enclosed model, and the top-covered model. All of them have the same volumes of the soft and hard parts but different shapes. Simulation results show that the switching fields for the three models can be reduced to about 10 kOe （1 Oe = 79.5775 A/m） and the factor gain can be improved to 1.4 when the interface exchange coefficient has a proper value. Compared to the other models, the enclosed model has a wider range of interface exchange coefficient values, in which a low switching field and high gain can be obtained. The dependence of the switching fields on the angle of the applied field shows that none of the three models are easily affected by the stray field of a magnetic head.

Exchange-coupled nanocomposites with novel microstructure and enhanced remanence by a new approach

Exchange-coupled nanocomposites with hard/soft magnetic phases are promising for the next generation of permanent magnets.Chemical methods have an advantage in controlling the nanoscale size of both phases.The nanocomposites obtained by the chemical method generally consist of a hard phase core and a soft phase shell.However,the soft-phase shell is easily oxidized leading to small enhancement of remanence.Here,a novel microstructure of Fe@FePt nanocomposites with Fe soft phase core and FePt hard phase shell has been synthesized by replacement reaction,in which the size of core and shell can be controlled below 10 nm by adjusting the ratio of Fe nanoparticles to PtCl 4.Excellent exchange-coupling(single-phase-like demagnetization curves)between soft-hard phases was observed due to the precise size control of both phases,and substantial enhancements both in remanence(32%)and saturation magnetization(81%)were obtained in optimal nanocompistes.This work provides an alternative routine to prepare heterostructure materials with various applications.

Grain Size Dependence of Exchange-Coupling Interaction between Magnetically Soft-Hard Grains and Effective Anisotropy

Taking α-Fe and Nd_2Fe_(14)B grains as example, the grain size dependence of the exchange-coupling interaction and effective anisotropy and also their variations depending on the ratio of magnetically soft and hard grain sizes, D_s∶D_h, were investigated. When grain size D>L_(ex), the grain’s anisotropy is the statistic value of the coupled and uncoupled part. The anisotropy constant of uncoupled part is the common value K_1 and that of coupled part varies with the distance to the grain surface. The effective anisotropy constant between magnetically soft and hard grains, K_(eff), can be expressed as the sum of the products of volume fractions for soft and hard grains, respectively, and the corresponding mean anisotropy constants. The calculation results indicate that the exchange-coupling interaction is enhanced with the reduction of grain size, and the effective anisotropy decreases with reducing grain size and increasing ratio of D_s∶D_h. In order to get high effective anisotropy constant, K_(eff), in composite magnetically soft-hard grains, the hard grain size should be larger than 30 nm and the soft grain size should be about 10 nm.

Micromagnetic study of magnetization reversal in inhomogeneous permanent magnets

Macroscopic magnetic properties of magnets strongly depend on the magnetization process and the microstructure of the magnets.Complex materials such as hard-soft exchange-coupled magnets or just real technical materials with impurities and inhomogeneities exhibit complex magnetization behavior.Here we investigate the effects of size,volume fraction,and surroundings of inhomogeneities on the magnetic properties of an inhomogeneous magnetic material via micromagnetic simulations.The underlying magnetization reversal and coercivity mechanisms are revealed.Three different demagnetization characteristics corresponding to the exchange coupling phase,semi-coupled phase,and decoupled phase are found,depending on the size of inhomogeneities.In addition,the increase in the size of inhomogeneities leads to a transition of the coercivity mechanism from nucleation to pinning.This work could be useful for optimizing the magnetic properties of both exchange-coupled nanomagnets and inhomogeneous single-phase magnets.

Ta thickness effect on field-free switching and spin-orbit torque efficiency in a ferromagnetically coupled Co/Ta/CoFeB trilayer

Current induced spin-orbit torque(SOT)switching of magnetization is a promising technology for nonvolatile spintronic memory and logic applications.In this work,we systematically investigated the effect of Ta thickness on the magnetic properties,field-free switching and SOT efficiency in a ferromagnetically coupled Co/Ta/Co Fe B trilayer with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.We found that both the anisotropy field and coercivity increase with increasing Ta thickness from0.15 nm to 0.4 nm.With further increase of Ta thickness to 0.5 nm,two-step switching is observed,indicating that the two magnetic layers are magnetically decoupled.Measurements of pulse-current induced magnetization switching and harmonic Hall voltages show that the critical switching current density increases while the field-free switching ratio and SOT efficiency decrease with increasing Ta thickness.Both the enhanced spin memory loss and reduced interlayer exchange coupling might be responsible for theβ_(DL)decrease as the Ta spacer thickness increases.The studied structure with the incorporation of a Co Fe B layer is able to realize field-free switching in the strong ferromagnetic coupling region,which may contribute to the further development of magnetic tunnel junctions for better memory applications.

Dependence of Effective Anisotropy on Grain Size in Nanocrystalline Nd_2Fe_(14)B Hard Magnetic Material

Taking nanocrystalline Nd_2Fe_(14)B as a typical sample, based on Herzer′s random anisotropy theory and the cubic grain model, the partial exchange-coupling interaction model was established and the dependence of effective anisotropy constant K_(eff) on grain size was investigated. Calculation results reveal that the exchange-coupling interaction enhances and the effective anisotropy of material K_(eff) decreases with the reduction of grain size. The variation of K_(eff) is basically the same as that of coercivity. The decrease of effective anisotropy is the main reason of the reduction of coercivity for nanocrystalline Nd_2Fe_(14)B permanent magnetic material.

Effect of Bath pH on the Squareness of Electroless CoNiWP Magnetic Films

Electroless CoNiWP magnetic films were prepared by varying the bath pH and then characterized by energy dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffraction and magnetic force microscopy, it has been found that the microstructure and the magnetic properties of films were influenced greatly by the bath pH. At the bath pH 8.06, the grain size and coercivity of the films reach maximuml while the squareness （Mr/Ms） of MH curves reaches minimum. The Henkel plots indicates that the exchange-coupling interaction is very weak at this pH, which may be caused by phase-separation and large grain size, and then results in the lowest squareness. At pH above 8.5, obvious exchange-coupling interaction is observed because of the inexistence of phase-separation and the refinement of grain size.

Entanglement in the supermolecular dimer [Mn4]2

This paper investigates the entanglement in the supermolecular dimer [Mn4]2 consisting of a pair of single molecular magnets with antiferromagnetic exchange-coupllng J. The conventional yon Neumann entropy as a function of the exchange-coupling is calculated explicitly for all eigenstates with the quantum number range from M = M1 ＋ M2 = -9 to 0. It is shown that the yon Neumann entropy is not a monotonic function of the coupling strength. However, it is significant that the entropy of entanglement has the maximum values and the minimum values for most eigenstates, which is extremely useful in the quantum computing. It also presents the time-evolution of entanglement from various initial states. The results are useful in the design of devices based on the entanglement of two molecular magnets.

Exchange-coupling interaction and effective anisotropy in nanocomposite permanent materials

Taking Nd2Fe14B/α-Fe as example, the exchange-coupling interactions between magnetically soft and hard grains in nanocomposite permanent materials and their effects on the effective anisotropy of materials were investigated. The calculation results expressed that the exchange-coupling interactions are enhanced with the reduction of grain size, and the effective anisotropy of materials decreases with the reduction of gram size and the increase of magnetically soft phase component. The remanence and the effective anisotropy of materials possess the opposite variation trend with the change of grain size and phase ratio. The mean grain size should be in the range of 10-15 nm and the ratio of soft phase should be less than 50% for getting the magnet with high energy product.

Microstructure and soft-magnetic properties of FeCoPCCu nanocrystalline alloys

Fe(83.2-x)CoxP(10)C6Cu(0.8)(x=0,4,6,8 and 10)alloys with a high amorphous-forming ability and good softmagnetic properties were successfully synthesized.Saturation magnetic flux density(Bs)is effectively enhanced from 1.53 T to 1.61 T for as-quenched alloy by minor Co addition,which is consistent well with the result of the linear relationship between average magnetic moment and magnetic valence.For Cocontained alloys,the value of corecivity(Hc)is mainly determined by magneto-crystalline anisotropy,while effective permeability(μe)is dominated by grain size and average saturation polarization.After proper heat treatment,the Fe(79.2)Co4P(10)C6Cu(0.8)nanocrystalline alloy exhibited excellent soft-magnetic properties including a high Bsof 1.8 T,a low Hcof 6.6 A/m and a highμeof 15,510,which is closely related to the high volume fraction of α-(Fe,Co)grains and refined uniform nanocrystalline microstructure.

Effective anisotropy and coercivity in nanocrystalline single-phase NdFeB permanent magnetic material

The effect of exchange-coupling interaction on the effective anisotropy and its varying tendency in nanocrystalline single-phase NdFeB permanent magnetic material have been investigated. The results show that the exchange-coupling interaction between grains makes the effective anisotropy of material, Keff, decrease with the reduction of grain size. The variation of Keff is basically the same as that of coercivity. The decrease in effective anisotropy is the main reason of the reduction of coercivity for nanocrystalline single-phase NdFeB permanent magnetic material. In order to get high anisotropy and coercivity in nanocrystalline single-phase NdFeB permanent material, the grain size should be larger than 35 nm.

Effects of orientation and interaction of grains on coercivity for sintered NdFeB magnets

The coercivity of NdFeB magnets is determined by the coercivity of individual grains and the interaction between the grains composed of the magnets. The coercivity of individual grains and the intergrain interaction depend on the degree of the grain alignment. 'tanθ type' Ganssian function is applied to describing the degree of the grain alignment. According to different coercivity mechanisms, there are different formula on the coercivity and the angular dependence of coercivity. The interaction between grains can be classified as the long-range magnetostatic interaction and the exchange-coupling interaction of neighboring grains. For the sintered magnet, the grain size is large and the grain boundaries are mostly separated by the non-magnetic phase. So, the long-range magnetostatic interaction is much stronger than the exchange coupling interaction and it makes the coercivity of the magnet composed of misaligned grains be bigger than that of the magnet composed of ideally aligned grains. The effects

Fabrication and magnetic properties of Sm_3(Fe,Ti)_(29)N_x/α-Fe dual-phase nanocomposite permanent magnetic material

Sm3(Fe,Ti)29Nx/α-Fe dual-phase nanometer magnetic material was fabricated through rapid solidification, crystallization and nitridation of Sm-Fe (Ti) alloy. The effect of combination of rapid solidification and Ti alloy addition on the phase for- mation and microstructure of the Sm-Fe alloy is investigated in this paper. The mi- crostructure of amorphous phase and dual-phase nano-grain crystals before and after crystallization annealing were observed using a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HREM). The dual-phase nano-grains after annealing were compacted together with a clear interface with the direct exchange-coupling mechanism. Different annealing processes were used to examine the melt-spun alloy. Comparison of the images of SEM showed that annealing at 750 ℃ for 10 min was most suitable to get homogeneous and nano-grains. No obvious kink was de- tected in the second quadrant of the hysteresis loop like a single hard magnet, and strong exchange coupling was found between hard magnets and soft magnets.