Magnetic anisotropy of grain boundaries in nanocrystalline Ni

Abstract Temperature-dependent magnetic anisotropy due to grain boundaries in nanocrystalline Ni has been studied by simulating experimental magnetization data with the stochastic Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert theory. In the model the grain boundary magnetic anisotropy energy is expressed as the sum of the uniaxial anisotropy and the cubic anisotropy, characterized by K ua and K ca anisotropy constants. By comparing the calculated magnetization with the experimental magnetization measurements at finite temperatures, the values of K ua and K ca can be determined. For nanocrystalline Ni it is found that with increasing temperature K ua decreases and K ca increases. At low temperatures K ua dominates the grain boundary anisotropy energy, whereas K ca is very small and it can be neglected. At room temperature K ua and K ca are of the same order with the corresponding ratio K ua / K ca ≈ 1.9 , both coefficients are much larger than the magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant.