Magnetostatic energy of a ferromagnetic sphere

Amikam Aharoni

Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 51, 5906 (1980); doi: 10.1063/1.327557

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.327557
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 Magnetostatic energy of a ferromagnetic sphere
Amikam Aharoni
Department of Electronics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovoth. Israel
(Received 29 February 1980; accepted for publication 9 April 1980)
A general expression is given for the magnetostatic self-energy of a spherical particle, magnetized
in any (nonhomogeneous) fashion. It can be used for any micromagnetic study with spherical
symmetry, saving the tedious calculations that start from the potential of the particular problem.
The expression includes, as particular cases, studies which can be found in the literature.
PACS numbers: 75.60. - d, 41.10.Dq

Consider a rigid ferromagnetic sphere with a radius R. value when </> is changed by 21T. This leads to the most gener-
Let the direction of the magnetization vector M in it be some al solution in the form
unspecified function of space, i.e., of the polar coordinates r,
0, and </>. This magnetization distribution also defines some Vout = L~ ~
~
A meimn", p"m(cosO )(R Ir)" + I
,
(2a)
,,-- 0 m---'-
magneto static potential V which should be a solution 1 of the
differential equations where Amn are constants which should still be determined,
and P ~n are the Legendre associated functions of the first
(Ia) kind. One of the boundary conditions is that the potential is
continuous on r = R, and this can be readily imposed by
(lb)
taking
with the appropriate boundary conditions. For the second of
these equations, one may separate the variables, apply the A mne"n"'pm(
"cos0) In(r) . (2b)
I,,(R)
conditions that the solution must be regular for infinite r,
and for cosO = ± 1, and that V must return back to the same Substituting (2b) in (Ia) and using the differential equation
I fulfilled by the Legendre functions,

~ L~ A eim"'pm(cos 0)(d
L -+
2
2-d -
- n(n + 1») -
In(r)
-
" ~ 0 m .~ _ n mn " dr r dr r /" (R )

= 41TM, [( ~ + :,)a, + + (cotO + :0 )a e + r

where Ms is the magnitude ofM, and a" ae, and a", are its direction cosines.
s~no ~ a", ], (3)

In order to obtain a differential equation for each ofthe functions I" , Eq. (3) is multiplied by sinOe - ili"'P\~(cosO) and
integrated from 0 to 21Tover</>, and from 0 to 1Tover O. On the left-hand side both summations are over delta functions, and the
result is

Amn (n+m)!(d n+2)(d n)ln(r)

(2n + I)M, (n - m)! dr + - r - dr - -; In(R)

= d
( -dr
n +-
+- 2) ilr 1211' smOe-,m"'p;;'(cosO)a,(r,O,</»d</>dO
. .

+ +IT frrroo

e- im'" [p;;'(COsO (~ a",(r,O,</» - nap (r,O,</> )) + (n + m)p;;' _ 1 (cosO )al!(r,o,</»] d</> dO, (4)
where the component a p in a cylindrical coordinate system is used for brevity. It may now be verified by substitution that the
differential equation (4) has the following particular solution:

r
Amn (n + m)! In(r) = _1_ (r')"+ 1 (17 (2rr e- im", [ _ (n + m)P;;'_1 (cosO)ae(r',O,</»]
M, (n-m)!/n(R) 7"+IJo Jo Jo
+ P';:(COSO{nap (r',O,</> ) - ~ a",(r',O,</> ))d</> dO dr'

+ 7" i R
(r') - n 117 frr e - im", [ (n - m + I)ae(r',O,</> )P;;'+ 1(cosO)
- P';:(cosO )((n + I)ap(r',O,</» + :</> a",(r',o,</») ]d</> dO dr', (5a)

with

5906 J. Appl. Phys. 51(11), November 1980 0021-8979/80/115906-03$01.10 © 1981 American Institute of Physics 5906

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 Amn (n +m)!
Ms (n -mil
21T
rr
1T

= _1_ ( r" + I e- im", [ _ (n + m)P:_ (cosO)ae

..!.-.a",)]dt/J dO dr. + P;:,(coso)(nap -
(Sh)
R n+ I Jo Jo Jo a¢
I

The combination of(5) and (2) is, therefore, a particular solution of (I). However, it can be readily checked, by taking the
appropriate limit, that this solution is regular at r = O. It is thus a solution which is regular and continuous everywhere.
Moreover, av I ar has a discontinuity of41TM, on r = R, as a potential should. An since it has been proved 1 thatthere can never
be two potentials which fulfill all these conditions, the substitution of(5) in (2) leads to the potential of the problem. It might
just be remarked that the method used in calculating the potential has been used very often before,2 but always for solving
more specific potential problems. At least this author has failed to find something so general in the literature.
Now that the potential is known, one may substitute it in the conventional expression for the magnetostatic self-energy,

WM =! lR IT f" M.VVrsinOdt/JdOdr. (6)

Substituting from (2) and (5), carrying out the differentiations, integrating by parts, and interchanging the names or param-
eters with and without the primes in f~ dr', eventually leads to

i i1
R 1T 21T

w'w = 21TMs [rar(r,O,¢ )]2 sinO d¢ dO dr - M; I00

I
n (n - m )';
o 0 0 n= 0 m = _ n (n + m).
R 2 2rr
X r f"" r ". r - Jof' (r'r
Jo Jo Jo
n + Ii"
0
r
Jo
Isin[m(¢ - ¢ ')] [fll(r,O,t/J lfl 2 (r',O ',t/J') + fl2(r,O,t/J )f}3(r',O ',r'))
+ cos[m(¢ - ¢ ')] [f}I\r,O,¢ )113(r',0 ',¢') - f}2(r,e,¢ )f}2(r',e ',t/> ')] Jd¢' dO' dr' dt/> dO dr, (7)
where
111 (r,O,t/> ) = (n + 1)P :(cosO lap (r,O,¢ ) grate by parts over the other variables, as applicable. The
- (n - m + l)P;:' + I (cosO )a e(r,O,t/> ), (8a) result is

11 2 (r.O,t/> ) = mP ;:'(cosO )a",(r,O,¢ ). (8b) W =!R 3M2 {'- ~ (n - m)!

M ~ ~
113(r,O.t/> ) = nP ;;'(cosO lap (r,O.t/> )
2'
,,~\) m ~ n (n + m)!
X! [Q(eos)F+ [Q(sin)]2l. (Ila)
- (n + m)P;;' _ I (cosO )a e(r.O,¢ 1. (8cl
with the following short-hand notation:

Equations (7) and (8) are thus the most general result, QU) = (IT (", f(mr/J )sineP:n(cos8)ar(R,O,¢ )dt/> dO.
from which more specific cases may be derived by substitu-
Jo Jo
tion. In particular. for a magnetization distribution which is (11 b)
independent on t/>. and for which a p = 0, one obtains, after In particular, if
carrying out the integrations over ¢ and t/> '. az = O. ax = cow. a y = sinw. (12)

WM = 4~M~ JR iT ([ra,(r.O)cOSO y
andw is a function ofz = r cosO only. Eq. (11) becomes, after
integrating over ¢.

-
x
n~l n(n + l)az(r,O)
p
n
(cosO)
+ J r"
r (r')n+
Jo I WM =rR 3M; f (n-I)!
n = I (n + 1)1
X LIT a,(r',O ')Pn I (cosO') sinO' dO' dr') X {[ i"" sin 0P ~ (cosO) COSlJ)(R cosO )dO Y
2

X sinO de dr. (9)

From this equation one can readily obtain that which would
+ [LT sin 0P!(cosOlsinw(R cosO)dO ]2}.
2
(13)

have been the expression for the magnetostatic energy in the This is readily reduced to the expression obtained by Stap-
particular ease 2 studied before. if it had been expressed in an per3 (who used a different methOd) for a particular case of
explicit form. (12), in which ill is a constant in each of several discs perpen-
Another important case is a magnetization distribution dicular to z.
with no volume charge, i.e .• when the divergence of M van- If instead of (12) it is assumed that (10) holds and the
ishes, or magn.etizatio~ does not depend on ¢, one obtains from (11).
after mtegratmg over t/>.
~ne a a a
---a (ra + -aLl (af) sinO) + -atl> =0.
r r u
r)
at/>
(10)
WM = 2rR 3M; n~o (IT sinOPn (cosO )a,(R,O )dO y.
(14)
I~ this case one can write m sin[m(t/> - t/> ')] in (7) as a deriva-
tive of the cosine (or vice versa). integrate by parts over t/> (or The importance of this case is that such a magnetization
t/> '), substitute for the t/> derivative from (10). and then inte- distribution can easily be constructed from a vector potential
5907 J. App\. Phys., Vo\. 51. No. 11. November 1980
Amikam Aharoni 5907

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10:52:29
 A", (r,O), as in the study4.5 of a cylinder. For the particular
vector potential
WM(2d)=8~M;R3! _n_( (2n+l)!! )2.
n= I 2n + 1 (2n -1)(2n +2)!!
A", = !
m=O
Fm(r)Pm(cosO)sinO (15)
The case of a single domain (homogeneously magnetized
(17)

one can even carry out the last integration in (14), and the sphere) can also be obtained from (13) in a similar fashion,
magnetostatic self-energy becomes or, for that matter, from (9), with the well-known result
WM(ld) = 3~M;R 3 . (18)

(16)
Finally, it might be worth noting that the case of two
anti parallel domains, with no wall separating them, may be
obtained from (12) by taking COSlU as + 1 for O,O'~1T and as
- 1 for !1T,O'1T. When ~sed in (13) one obtains after
integrating
'w. F. Brown, Jr., Magnetostatic Principles in Ferromagnetism (North-
Holland, Amsterdam, 1962).
'I. Eisenstein and A. Aharoni, J. Appl. Phys. 47, 321 (1976).
'C. H. Stapper, Jr., J. Appl. Phys. 40, 798 (1968).
4A. S. Arrott, Physica86-88B, 1293 (1977).
'A. S. Arrott, B. Heinreich, T. L. Templeton, and A. Aharoni, J. Appl.
Phys. 50, 2387 (1979).

5908 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 51, No. 11, November 1980 Amikam Aharoni 5908

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