Thermal and dipolar interaction effect on the relaxation in a linear chain of magnetic nanoparticles

Abstract

We perform computer simulations to study the relaxation in a one-dimensional chain of dipolar interacting magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). Using the two-level approximation of the energy barrier, we perform kinetic Monte Carlo simulations to probe the relaxation mechanism as a function of dipolar interaction strength and temperature. The anisotropy axes of the MNPs are assumed to have random orientations. At high temperatures, the magnetization decay curve is exponential for weak dipolar interactions. It is found that dipolar interactions slow down the magnetic relaxation and increase the effective Néel relaxation time τN, which is affected by thermal fluctuations. In the weak dipolar limit, there is a perfect agreement between simulated and analytically evaluated values of τN for a wide range of temperatures. Microscopic analyses such as magnetic moments correlations and dynamic domain formation also suggest an increase in ferromagnetic coupling with an increase in dipolar interaction strength or decrease in thermal fluctuations. We believe that the concepts presented in this work are relevant in the context of applications such as data storage, digital data processing, and magnetic hyperthermia, in which the linear chain of MNPs are pervasive.