An analysis of magnetization processes in metal evaporated tape

It is shown that conventional hysteresis data completely mask the true magnetic properties of metal evaporated (ME) tape. For a true demagnetization correction a continuous adjustment of the external field and its angle during measurement has to be accomplished. Using vector magnetometry, an iterative method for the determination of the static hysteresis compensated for film demagnetization of obliquely oriented thin-film recording media was developed. It is shown that the ME tape resembles a particulate medium which is highly oriented and has an extremely narrow switching field distribution. The magnetization reversal process is incoherent with a strong increase of switching fields at high angles between the field and the intrinsic easy axis which is located at an angle of 38 degrees to the film plane. It is shown that thermal activation has a strong effect on the measured data.<
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