Effect of the Core–Shell Exchange Coupling on the Approach to Magnetic Saturation in a Ferrimagnetic Nanoparticle

Abstract

The generally accepted model of the magnetic structure of an iron oxide core–shell nanoparticle includes a single-domain magnetically ordered core surrounded by a layer with a frozen spin disorder. Due to the exchange coupling between the shell and core, the spin disorder should lead to nonuniform magnetization in the core. Suppression of this inhomogeneity by an external magnetic field causes the nonlinear behavior of the magnetization as a function of the field in the region of the approach to magnetic saturation. The equation proposed to describe this effect is tested using a micromagnetic simulation. Analysis of the approach to magnetic saturation of iron oxide nanoparticles at different temperatures using this equation can be used to estimate the temperature evolution of the core–shell coupling energy and the size of the uniformly magnetized nanoparticle core and the temperature behavior of this size.