Zero-field magnetization reversal of two-body Stoner particles with dipolar interaction

Abstract

Nanomagnetism has recently attracted explosive attention, in particular, because of the enormous potential applications in information industry, e.g. new harddisk technology, race-track memory[1], and logic devices[2]. Recent technological advances[3] allow for the fabrication of single-domain magnetic nanoparticles (Stoner particles), whose magnetization dynamics have been extensively studied, both experimentally and theoretically, involving magnetic fields[4-9] and/or by spin-polarized currents[10-20]. From an industrial point of view, important issues include lowering the critical switching field $H_c$, and achieving short reversal times. Here we predict a new technological perspective: $H_c$ can be dramatically lowered (including $H_c=0$) by appropriately engineering the dipole-dipole interaction (DDI) in a system of two synchronized Stoner particles. Here, in a modified Stoner-Wohlfarth (SW) limit, both of the above goals can be achieved. The experimental feasibility of realizing our proposal is illustrated on the example of cobalt nanoparticles.