A two rotor model with spin for magnetic nanoparticles

Abstract

We argue that a kind of magnetic nanoparticle might exist characterized by the locking of the constituent spins with the density profile of the macrospin. We represent such a nanoparticle by two interacting rigid rotors, one of which has a large spin attached to the body, namely a two rotor model with spin. By this model we can describe in a unified way the cases of nanoparticles free and stuck in an elastic or a rigid matrix. We evaluate the magnetic susceptibility for the latter case and under some realistic assumptions we get results in closed form. A crossover between thermal and purely quantum hopping occurs at a temperature much higher than that at which tunneling becomes important. Agreement with some experimental data is remarkable.