Nanoparticle Magnetism: Superspin Glasses.

This article discusses the magnetic super-phase, which occurs in strongly interacting magnetic nanoparticle systems. The phase is a nanoparticle analog to the atomic magnetic spin glass phase and is therefore called a superspin glass. Experimental data for a dense maghemite nanoparticle compact is presented and it is shown that this system forms a superspin glass phase by undergoing a second order phase transition. Below its transition temperature the system exhibits non-equilibrium dynamical properties similar to those of atomic spin glasses. It was shown that it is possible to tune the transition temperature by choosing the size of the particles used to make the compact. By mixing two sizes of particles (9 and 11.5 nm) and making compacts of different relative concentration of these sizes it was shown that it is the average dipolar interaction which determines the transition temperature.