Universal Barkhausen critical scaling behavior observed in NixFe1-x (x=0-0.5) films

Abstract

We have investigated the Barkhausen critical scaling behavior of NixFe1-x (x = 0-0.5) films using a magneto-optical microscope, capable of time-resolved domain observation. Real-time direct observations of the domain evolutions in these films revealed that magnetization reversal occurred with a sequence of random Barkhausen jumps. From more than 1000 repeated experiments with each sample, it was found that the distribution of the Barkhausen jump size followed a power-law distribution. The scaling exponent of the power-law distribution was found to have the same value of 1.1, independent of the film composition, revealing a universal critical scaling behavior in these alloy films. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3536350]