Magnetic small-angle neutron scattering of bulk ferromagnets

Abstract

We summarize recent theoretical and experimental work in the field of magnetic small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) of bulk ferromagnets. The response of the magnetization to spatially inhomogeneous magnetic anisotropy and magnetostatic stray fields is computed using linearized micromagnetic theory, and the ensuing spin-misalignment SANS is deduced. Analysis of experimental magnetic-field-dependent SANS data of various nanocrystalline ferromagnets corroborates the usefulness of the approach, which provides important quantitative information on the magnetic-interaction parameters such as the exchange-stiffness constant, the mean magnetic anisotropy field, and the mean magnetostatic field due to jumps ΔM of the magnetization at internal interfaces. Besides the value of the applied magnetic field, it turns out to be the ratio of the magnetic anisotropy field Hp to ΔM, which determines the properties of the magnetic SANS cross-section of bulk ferromagnets; specifically, the angular anisotropy on a two-dimensional detector, the asymptotic power-law exponent, and the characteristic decay length of spin-misalignment fluctuations. For the two most often employed scattering geometries where the externally applied magnetic field H0 is either perpendicular or parallel to the wave vector k0 of the incoming neutron beam, we provide a compilation of the various unpolarized, half-polarized (SANSPOL), and uniaxial fully-polarized (POLARIS) SANS cross-sections of magnetic materials.