Magnetic properties of nanoparticle compacts with controlled broadening of the particle size distribution

Binary random compacts with different proportions of small (volume $V$) and large (volume $2V$) essentially bare maghemite nanoparticles are used to investigate the effect of controllably broadening the particle size distribution on the magnetic properties of magnetic nanoparticle assemblies with strong dipolar interaction. A series of eight random mixtures of highly uniform 9.0- and 11.5-nm-diameter maghemite particles prepared by thermal decomposition is studied. In spite of the severely broadened size distributions in the mixed samples, well-defined superspin glass transition temperatures are observed across the series, their values increasing linearly with the weight fraction of large particles.