Probing the interdependence between irreversible magnetization reversal processes by first-order reversal curves

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)A procedure to probe the interdependence between irreversible magnetic processes is presented. It consists of measuring the first-order reversal curves (FORCs) without saturating the system. Depending on the variation of the reversal fields during the curves' acquirement (increasing or decreasing), it fixes the hardest or softest hysterons into their negative saturation level throughout the measurement. Differences between these FORC diagrams and the classical one, as well as variation of the end magnetization as a function of the reversal field, indicate and characterize the requirement that some irreversible processes arise from others. The procedure is described to investigate magnetic systems, but can be directly used to study any hysteretic system. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3538940]1097Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)FQRNT (Canada)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq