Magneto-orientational behavior of a suspension of antiferromagnetic particles.

A theory describing magneto-orientational properties of suspensions containing antiferromagnetic nanoparticles is developed. Due to their small size, these particles possess, apart from an anisotropic magnetic susceptibility pertinent to antiferromagnets, a spontaneous magnetic moment caused by sublattice decompensation. In a colloid subjected to a DC field of increasing strength an orientational crossover takes place: the particle magnetic moments, initially aligned along the field, turn to the transverse orientation. This behavior considerably changes the observable characteristics of the system: the spectrum of linear dynamic susceptibility and the integral time of magnetic relaxation under a pulse field.