Residual attractive force between superparamagnetic nanoparticles

dc.creatorDobson, John F.
dc.creatorGray, Evan MacA.
dc.date2009-02-20
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T12:45:25Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T12:45:25Z
dc.descriptionA superparamagnetic nanoparticle (SPN) is a nanometre-sized piece of a material that would, in bulk, be a permanent magnet. In the SPN the individual atomic spins are aligned via Pauli effects into a single giant moment that has easy orientations set by shape or magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Above a size-dependent blocking temperature $T_{b}(V,τ_{obs})$, thermal fluctuations destroy the average moment by flipping the giant spin between easy orientations at a rate that is rapid on the scale of the observation time $τ_{obs}$. We show that, depite the vanising of the average moment, two SPNs experience a net attractive force of magnetic origin, analogous to the van der Waals force between molecules that lack a permanent electric dipole. This could be relevant for ferrofluids, for the clumping of SPNs used for drug delivery, and for ultra-dense magnetic recording media.
dc.description21 pp
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0902.3684
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0902.3684
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/221078
dc.subjectOther Condensed Matter
dc.titleResidual attractive force between superparamagnetic nanoparticles
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