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Lecture

Anisotropy and Spin-Orbit Coupling

In course

MSE-432: Introduction to magnetic materials in modern technologies

Interactive course addressing bulk and thin-film magnetic materials that provide application-specific functionalities in different modern technologies such as e.g. wind energy harvesting, electric article surveillance, spintronics, sensing, and data storag ...

Description

This lecture covers the concepts of anisotropy in magnetic materials, including the anisotropic magnetic hysteresis of iron, comparison of iron, nickel, and cobalt, and magnetocrystalline anisotropy. It also delves into the effects of spin-orbit coupling on magnetic anisotropy, explaining the change of orbital functions when rotating magnetization. The presentation discusses the work done in magnetization curves, potential energy per unit volume for a magnet, and the energy representing hysteresis loss. The instructor emphasizes the relationship between the magnetization process of a material and its crystallographic structure, highlighting the symmetry axes and planes in a cubic crystal. Additionally, spin-orbit coupling is explored through the magnetic field in the electron frame, illustrating the interaction energy and the effective magnetic field at the electron.

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Instructor

Dirk Grundler

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Condensed matter physics: Phase transitions

Related concepts (32)

Magnetic domain

A magnetic domain is a region within a magnetic material in which the magnetization is in a uniform direction. This means that the individual magnetic moments of the atoms are aligned with one another and they point in the same direction. When cooled below a temperature called the Curie temperature, the magnetization of a piece of ferromagnetic material spontaneously divides into many small regions called magnetic domains. The magnetization within each domain points in a uniform direction, but the magnetization of different domains may point in different directions.

Magnetocrystalline anisotropy

In physics, a ferromagnetic material is said to have magnetocrystalline anisotropy if it takes more energy to magnetize it in certain directions than in others. These directions are usually related to the principal axes of its crystal lattice. It is a special case of magnetic anisotropy. In other words, the excess energy required to magnetize a specimen in a particular direction over that required to magnetize it along the easy direction is called crystalline anisotropy energy.

Magnet

A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, cobalt, etc. and attracts or repels other magnets. A permanent magnet is an object made from a material that is magnetized and creates its own persistent magnetic field. An everyday example is a refrigerator magnet used to hold notes on a refrigerator door.

Coercivity

Coercivity, also called the magnetic coercivity, coercive field or coercive force, is a measure of the ability of a ferromagnetic material to withstand an external magnetic field without becoming demagnetized. Coercivity is usually measured in oersted or ampere/meter units and is denoted HC. An analogous property in electrical engineering and materials science, electric coercivity, is the ability of a ferroelectric material to withstand an external electric field without becoming depolarized.

Magnetic hysteresis

Magnetic hysteresis occurs when an external magnetic field is applied to a ferromagnet such as iron and the atomic dipoles align themselves with it. Even when the field is removed, part of the alignment will be retained: the material has become magnetized. Once magnetized, the magnet will stay magnetized indefinitely. To demagnetize it requires heat or a magnetic field in the opposite direction. This is the effect that provides the element of memory in a hard disk drive.

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