Collective in-plane magnetization in a 2D XY macrospin system within the framework of generalized Ott-Antonsen theory

TL;DR

This paper models a 2D XY macrospin system with dipole interactions, revealing how external fields induce phase transitions between antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic states using generalized Ott-Antonsen theory.

Contribution

It develops a rigorous mean-field approach using generalized Ott-Antonsen theory to analyze phase transitions in a 2D dipolar XY system with external fields.

Findings

External tilted fields induce first-order AF to FM phase transitions.

Phase diagrams show stable and metastable regions of magnetic order.

The model captures thermofluctuational effects on macrospin dynamics.

Abstract

The problem of magnetic transitions between the low-temperature (macrospin ordered) phases in 2D XY arrays is addressed. The system is modeled as a plane structure of identical single-domain particles arranged in a square lattice and coupled by the magnetic dipole-dipole interaction; all the particles possess a strong easy-plane magnetic anisotropy. The basic state of the system in the considered temperature range is an antiferromagnetic (AF) stripe structure, where the macrospins (particle magnetic moments) are still involved in thermofluctuational motion: the superparamagnetic blocking $T_b$ temperature is lower than that ($T_\text{af}$) of the AF transition. The description is based on the stochastic equations governing the dynamics of individual magnetic moments, where the interparticle interaction is added in the mean field approximation. With the technique of a generalized Ott-Antonsen theory, the dynamics equations for the order parameters (including the macroscopic magnetization and the antiferromagnetic order parameter) and the partition function of the system are rigorously obtained and analysed. We show that inside the temperature interval of existence of the AF phase, a static external field tilted to the plane of the array is able to induce first order phase transitions from AF to ferromagnetic state; the phase diagrams displaying stable and metastable regions of the system are presented.