Magnetization reversal in textured Fe nanoparticles having different aspect ratios

Abstract The use of micromagnetic models on the simulation of the magnetization reversal allows approaching the “ad hoc” design of materials for particular applications. As an example of this and trying to identify a particulate system with reduced interparticle dipolar interactions, we report on the results of a study of the hysteretic properties of textured Fe particles having thicknesses of the order of the units of nanometre and in-plane dimensions from 400×30 to 400×250 nm. Our results show that for sufficiently wide particles the moment configurations at the remanence correspond to an outer shell where the moments are essentially oriented along the direction parallel to the particle surface (therefore minimizing the surface poles) and an inner core (having larger volume than the shell) in which the moments point along one of the two easiest crystallographic directions. The reversal field of the outer shell is larger than that of the core and consequently the latter coincides with the global particle coercivity.