Magnetoelastic oscillations of the magnetisation in a bistable wire

Abstract We investigate a bistable amorphous iron-rich wire in AC magnetic field. Time dependence of the magnetisation M(t) is measured for the frequency of the applied field f=50 Hz . The amplitude of the applied field is chosen close to the switching field. We show that when the wire ends are free, M(t) displays oscillations twice or more longer than 1/f. We assign the effect to a magnetoelastic wave induced within the wire by the applied field. When the wire end are fixed, the effect disappears, and merely random oscillations of the switching field are observed.