Topics in Magnetism

III. Hysteresis and Domains

Anne Reilly
Department of Physics
College of William and Mary

After reviewing this lecture, you should be familiar with:

1. General features of ferromagnetic hysteresis curves
2. Affects of anisotropy
3. Affects of domains

Material from this lecture is taken from Physics of Magnetism by Chikazumi, Chapters 15 - 18

In ferromagnetic materials, exchange interaction leads to an

alignment of atomic spins. When a magnetic field is applied, these
spins are reoriented, leading to hysteresis.
H
M
H

M=magnetization along direction of H

Features of Hysteresis Curve:

Saturation magnetization (Ms)

Remnant magnetization (Mr)

H

Coercivity (Hc)

M=magnetization along direction of H

What determines shape of hysteresis loop?

1. Coherent rotation determined mainly by Anisotropy
2. Domain formation and domain wall motion

Important principle:
Magnetization will lie in direction which is an energy minimum
Consider a simple example:
H

easy axis

(Stoner-Wohlfarth model)

Simple example:

easy axis

U MH cos( ) K1 sin 2 ( )
Zeeman energy
Find M () by condition:

U
0

Uniaxial anisotropy

See: http://www.student.uni-kl.de/~mewes/magnet.e.html

Coherent rotation of magnetization considering only uniaxial anisotropy::

=00 (along easy axis)

=900 (along hard axis)

M
H

For 0 : Hc=2K1/Ms
0

Note: Hysteresis shown above is the component

of M in the direction of H

Magnetic Anisotropy
Anisotropy: preferred (easy axes) and unfavorable (hard axes) directions
of magnetization
Due to coupling of electronic spins to electronic charge density

For this rotation, as long as spins remain parallel, exchange energy does
not change, but dipolar and LS coupling energy will change.

Magnetic Anisotropy
Anisotropy: preferred (easy axes) and unfavorable (hard axes) directions
of magnetization
Due to coupling of electronic spins to electronic charge density

Example: hcp Co
M
c-axis (hard)

easy
hard

(easy)
8000

H (G)

Magnetic Anisotropy
Two major types of anisotropy, written in terms of empirical anisotropy
coefficients:
Uniaxial:

U A K1 sin 2 K 2 sin 4

Cubic:

U A K1 (12 22 12 32 22 32 ) K 212 22 32

(e.g., Co)

(e.g., Fe, Ni)

Note: cubic lattices can have several easy and hard axes

Domains
In ferromagnetic materials, exchange interaction leads
to an alignment of atomic spins
However, this leads to a large external and dipolar magnetic fields
which will tend to demagnetize the material. Domains are formed
to minimize this effect.

Domain wall

From http://www.aacg.bham.ac.uk/magnetic_materials

Domains
Domain size and wall size determined by energy cost,
dependent on material and geometry.
Ni thin film

Domain Walls
Energy is minimized by having a wall of finite width
N spins

Energy cost (exchange)

Energy cost (exchange + anisotropy)

2

U JS
(per unit area)

N
U JS 2
KNa
a N
2

K = anisotropy constant
a = lattice constant

Domain Walls
Energy is minimized by having a wall of finite width
N spins over d

U
JS
0 N
3
N
Ka
d Na
2

For iron, J=2.16x10-21, S=1, K=4.2x104 and a=2.86x10-10

d=42 nm (150 lattice constants)

domain size will depend on sample geometry (see Chikazumi, Chp. 16)

Domain Walls
Domains have different shapes and orientations
Two examples of thin film domain walls:
Neel wall (rotation in plane)

Bloch wall (rotation out of plane)

Domains and Hysteresis

Domain formation and domain wall motion affects the
shape of hysteresis loop:
M

H
H

Domains and Hysteresis

Barkhausen noise: Tiny steps of domain walls
M

Domains and Hysteresis

Domain walls move across energy landscape
(determined by film morphology)
irreversible motion
Uw
reversible motion

Domains and Hysteresis

Coercivity can be increased over that for single domain system
because domain walls can become pinned (hard to move).
Pinning on lattice defects (dislocations, voids, etc.) , impurities.
Walls move between pinning points.

Defects and stress in thin film can increase number of

pinning sites and thus coercivity.