Extension of the BLOCH T(3/2) law to magnetic nanostructures: Bose-Einstein condensation

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Apr 15;94(14):147210. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.147210. Epub 2005 Apr 15.

Abstract

We report a newly observed phenomenon, namely, the observation of a visible anomaly in the Bloch T(3/2) law for the temperature dependence of magnetization of nanostructured ferromagnets, for which we give a thermodynamic explanation. Our interpretation extends the Bloch law by introducing the system's chemical potential and assumes a finite Bose-Einstein condensation temperature T(BE) of the magnons. Our extension involves accounting for the possibility of a magnon or magnetic entropy term, leading to a magnon chemical potential (hitherto omitted in the traditional derivation) which varies with temperature. The result is a subtle upturn of the magnetization curves of ferromagnetic nanoparticles in the 10 to 50 K temperature range. Here we show experimental data for nanomaterials and an outline of the extended theory which includes T(BE).