Determination of anisotropy fields in recording media

This work describes an experimental study which reviews the various techniques that can be used for determination of anisotropy fields in recording media. At the present time this topic is of considerable importance due to the need to understand the detailed mechanisms of magnetization reversal and the factors that control the switching field distribution in recording media. We have used a metal-particle-based tape material and have employed various magnetic techniques for the determination of the apparent anisotropy field, HK. The techniques included hysteresis loops measured in a direction transverse to the texture direction of the tapes, single-point detection in the successive derivatives of the magnetization with respect to the field, transverse susceptibility measurement, and the variation of the bulk coercivity with temperature. We find the temperature variation of coercivity produces values of HK far smaller than values determined by other methods due to orientation effects. General agreement is s...