Thermal Fluctuations of a Single-Domain Particle
Abstract
A sufficiently fine ferromagnetic particle has a uniform vector magnetization whose magnitude is essentially constant, but whose direction fluctuates because of thermal agitation. The fluctuations are important in superparamagnetism and in magnetic aftereffect. The problem is approached here by methods familiar in the theory of stochastic processes. The "Langevin equation" of the problem is assumed to be Gilbert's equation of motion augmented by a "random-field" term. Consideration of a statistical ensemble of such particles leads to a "Fokker-Planck" partial differential equation, which describes the evolution of the probability density of orientations. The random-field concept, though convenient, can be avoided by use of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The Fokker-Planck equation, in general, is complicated by the presence of gyroscopic terms. These drop out in the case of axial symmetry: then the problem of finding nonequilibrium solutions can be restated as a minimization problem, susceptible to approximate treatments. The case of energy barriers large in comparison with $\mathrm{kT}$ is treated both by approximate minimization and by an adaptation of Kramers' treatment of the escape of particles over barriers. The limits of validity of the discrete-orientation approximation are discussed.
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Thermal agitation causes the switching field of a small magnet to have a distribution.
“It is known that thermal agitation causes the switching field of a small magnet to have a distribution.20)”
From Spin dice: A scalable truly random number generator based on spintronics (2014) · cites this paper as [20]
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- Authors
- Brown, W. F.
- Affiliations
- Weizmann Institute of Science (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Brown, William Fuller
- Venue
- Physical Review
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Published
- 1963-06-01
- Volume
- 130
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1677-1686
- ISSN
- 0031-899X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2022810388
- Cited by
- 3,374
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 86 · 2025: 95 · 2024: 114 · 2023: 114 · 2022: 122 · 2021: 141 · 2020: 141 · 2019: 141 · 2018: 128 · 2017: 141 · 2016: 124 · 2015: 140 · 2014: 144 · 2013: 143 · 2012: 131
- FWCI
- 2.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Physical Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Characterization and Applications of Magnetic Nanoparticles
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Theoretical and Computational Physics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials › Magnetic Properties of Alloys
- Keywords
- thermal fluctuations, single-domain ferromagnetic particles, superparamagnetism, magnetic aftereffect, Gilbert equation, Langevin equation, random field model, Fokker-Planck equation, fluctuation-dissipation theorem, gyroscopic terms, axial symmetry, energy barrier
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