The Stoner-Wohlfarth Model 1 History of Molecular Cross-over of the hysteresis branches Magnetism 2D & 3D coherent magnetization rotation 2 Modelling
Magnetism model 3 The Stoner-Wohlfarth model 4 New books/publications Transverse susceptibility of the StonerWohlfarth particle References
Author: Prof. Alexandru STANCU, Al. I. Cuza University, Iasi, Romania 1 The model
Equilibrium condition in the Stoner-Wohlfarth model
In its simplest form, the Stoner-Wohlfarth model[1] deals with the calculus of the equilibrium state of the total magnetic moment of a single-domain ferromagnetic particle with uniaxial anisotropy. The model assumes that all the magnetic moments in the particle are always parallel. The magnetisation processes of theStoner-Wohlfarth particle are effectuated through coherent rotation of all these moments. At any moment the directions of the magnetic moments within the particle are parallel. The magneto-crystalline free energy density is, for a single-domain uniaxial crystal, given by: (1) where is the angle between the easyaxis (OZ axis) of the particle and the saturation polarisation moment of the particle (see Figure 1).
Fig. 1
The Stoner-Wohlfarth particle
The magnetostatic free energy density maybe written as:
(2) where the vectors (saturationpolarisation of the particle) and (applied field ,
vector) were expressed in spherical co-ordinates: and respectively. Introducing the anisotropy field, defined as:
(3) the total free energy density for one mono-domain particle may be written as:
(4) From the minimum condition for the co-ordinate, that is;
(5)
Fig. 2
one obtains: (6) with the solution: . So, at the equilibrium, the polarisation vector, , will be in the same plane as the applied field. Without restricting the generality of the discussion we shall take as the plan where all the vectors are. Taking that into account, the total free energy becomes:
(7) and making the following notations: , one may transform the expression of W, as: (8)
(9) The stable equilibrium conditions are given by: (e) (s) and after simple calculations one obtains the system in the form: (e) (10) (11)
(12)
(s) (13) The system of equations which results by replacing in (s) the sign > with = has as solution the parametric equations and of the
geometrical locus of the critical fields which separates in the plane the region where the free energy function has two minima as a function of from the region where this function has only one minimum.
Fig. 3 Critical curve
They may be written as:
(14) and if one eliminates the parameterone obtains: (15) which is an astroid in the plane (see Figure 3). Inside the astroid W
has two minima as a function of ; out side there is only one. To prove that, we may write the (e) and (s) equations (16) which represents in the plane two lines.These lines have properties which shall be used in the calculus of the equilibrium state: 1. The line (e) is tangent to the astroidin the point determined by the angle (17) which is the slope of the (e) line.
Fig. 4
2. The line (s) is perpendicular on the line (e) due to the fact that their slope product is 1. The line (s) divides the plane into two half-planes. In one the equilibrium is stable and in the other is unstable. We noted the line region within the stable half-plane is noted with (es). 3. Analysing the (es) lines we obtain the configuration presented in the Figure 5. If the point of the vector is within the hashed region there will be with certainty an equilibrium solution between 0 and 90. The region for
is presented in the Figure 6.
Fig. 5
Fig. 6 In conclusion, when the field is applied and its point is inside the astroid, there are two equilibrium solutions (inside the astroid we have two hashed regions corresponding to differentequilibrium orientations, see Figure 7); outside the astroid it is possible only one equilibrium solution.
Fig. 7
Fig. 8 In many real cases, one may consider more then one anisotropy source. Lets see if we can still use the geometrical method we developed previously in the calculus of the equilibrium state. For example, lets consider that there is another anisotropy source of magneto-elastic type. The magneto-elastic free energy density is given by: (18) where is the saturation magnetostriction coefficient and is the mechanical stress vector which makes the angle with the magneto-crystallineanisotropy axis. The total free energy density is in thiscase: (19) If we are making the notations: (20) the expression for W becomes: (21) or (22) Where (23) and may be transformed as:
(24) If one chooses so (25) one obtains:
(26) and with (27) after simple algebra, (28) where is an equivalent total anisotropy field and is the angle between the easyaxis of the particle and its magneto-crystalline easy axis. The total free energy density may be written in the terms of equivalent anisotropy, as:
(29) and the stable equilibrium condition is given by: (30) (31) which may be written as: (32) (33) Replacing the sign > with = in (s) we are obtaining a system of equations whose solution is the critical curve with the same physical signification the astroid in the absence of the magneto-elastic term. The parametric equations of this critical curve are:
(34) To provide an easier explanation we transform these equations in a system rotated with respect to the system with the angle : (35) which may be transformed in the simple form:
(36) which represents in the Activity: Run the following Maple program in order to get familiar with the calculus of the critical curves. The program contains animated representation of the (e) and (s) curves as a function of the angle. system the equationsof an astroid.
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Magnetisation processes in the SW model
The most common hysteresis loop which maybe calculated represents the magnetic moment vector projection on the fielddirection as a function of the applied field: (see Figure 9). The Maple program SW_LOOP.MWS implementsthe algorithm for the calculus of the SW loops. It may be used to calculate theloops for between0 and 90.
Fig. 9
####################################### # MAPLE program Stoner-Wohlfarth loop (name SW_LOOP.MWS) ####################################### > restart; with(plots): with(plottools): > w := -Ps/2*(Hk*cos(theta)^2+2*H*cos(theta-psi)); > dw := diff(w, theta); > equ := dw=0; > g := (sin(psi)^(2/3) + cos(psi)^(2/3))^(-3/2); ##### # psi is the angle between the easy axis of the particle and # the field direction ##### > psi := 35.0*Pi/180.0; H := 0.1; Ps := 1.0; Hk := 1.0; > Hc := evalf(Hk * g); theta := 'theta'; > theta_s := evalf(Pi - arctan( tan(psi)^(1/3) )); > equ; > H := 'H'; np := 100; H_max := 1.0; > h_p := array(1..np); > h_n := array(1..np); > m_p := array(1..np); > m_n := array(1..np); > h_p[1] := 0.0; m_p[1] := cos(psi); > for i from 2 to np do > h_p[i] := (i-1)*H_max/(np-1); > H := h_p[i]:
> theta_plus := fsolve(equ, theta, 0..Pi/2); > m_p[i] := cos(theta_plus-psi); > od: > h_n[1] := 0.0; m_n[1] := cos(Pi-psi); > for i from 2 to np-1 do > h_n[i] := (i-1)*Hc/(np-1); > H := h_n[i]: > theta_minus := fsolve(equ, theta, theta_s..Pi); > m_n[i] := cos(theta_minus-psi); > od: > h_n[np] := Hc; m_n[np] := cos(theta_s-psi); > pl_pp := array(1..np); > pl_pn := array(1..np); > pl_np := array(1..np); > pl_nn := array(1..np); > for i from 1 to np do > pl_pp[i] := point([h_p[i],m_p[i]], color=red): > pl_np[i] := point([h_n[i],m_n[i]], color=blue): > pl_pn[i] := point([-h_n[i],-m_n[i]], color=red): > pl_nn[i] := point([-h_p[i],-m_p[i]], color=blue): > od: > display([seq(pl_pp[i], i=1..np), > seq(pl_np[i], i=1..np), > seq(pl_pn[i], i=1..np), > seq(pl_nn[i], i=1..np)]); ##### # Observation. For the data from the example you should # obtain the following figure: #####
