Introduction to the Theory

of Ferromagnetism

Exchange interaction

Isolated local magnetic moment in an

external magnetic field
Isolated local magnetic moment in an
external magnetic field
The total energy
E  U  μH

The Hamiltonian
Hˆ  μˆ H
or

Hˆ  μ̂ z H
Isolated local magnetic moment
In the case S  1 the operator of magnetic moment μ̂ z has only
2
two eigenstates
0 1
     
1 0

The eigenvalues of the magnetic moment operator

gμ B
μ̂ z   μ 0  μ̂ z   μ 0  μ0 
2
 Isolated local magnetic moment
The eigenstates and eigenenergies of the Hamiltonian
Hˆ    Hμ̂ z   μ 0 H   E  μ 0 H
Hˆ    Hμ̂ z   μ 0 H   E  μ 0 H

State Sz μz E
 
1
+μ0 –μ0H
2

 
1
–μ0 +μ0H
2

  ground state
  excited state
Isolated local magnetic moment
Let us evaluate the value of μz at T ≠ 0
μ z T   μˆ z T
 μ 0 P  μ 0 P
 E 
P  C exp    
 T 
 E 
P  C exp    
 T 

Constant C can be found from normalization condition

P  P  1

Finally, we have
μ H 
μ z T   μ 0 tanh  0 
 T 
Isolated local magnetic moment
 μ0 H 
μ z T   μ 0 tanh  
 T 
Limiting cases:

1. H  0  μ z T   0 2. H  0 and T  
at any temperature μ0 H T  μz  0

3. H  0 and T  0 4. H  0 and T  0
μ z T   μ 0 at H  0 μ z T   μ 0
μ z T   μ 0 at H  0
Isolated local magnetic moment
Resulting graphs look like this
Summary
 In the simplest case, when the spin is equal to one-
half, the operator of magnetic moment has only
two eigenstates, corresponding to orientation of
the magnetic moment along the applied magnetic
field (“up”) and in the opposite direction (“down”),
respectively
 If the magnetic field is greater than zero, the
ground state or the state with the lowest energy is
the “up” state
 At zero temperature the system is always located in
ground state, but at non-zero temperatures the
probability to find the system located in the
excited state will become non-zero
 μ0 H 
 z 
μ T  μ 0 tanh  T 
 