Quantum confinement of magnetic-dipolar oscillations in ferrite discs

Because of confinement phenomena, semiconductorquantum dots show typical atomic properties such as discrete energy levels and shell structures. The energy eigenstates are described based on the Schrödinger-like equation for the electronic envelope wavefunctions. From the point of view of fundamental studies, the reduction of dimensionality in microwave ferrites brings into play new effects, which should be described based on the quantized picture and demonstrate, as a fact, the properties of artificial atomic structures. The intermediate position of magnetic-dipolar (or magnetostatic) oscillations in ferrite samples between ‘pure’ electromagnetic and spin-wave (exchangeinteraction) processes reveals the very special behaviour of geometrical effects. In view of recent studies on the local-field effects for subwavelength systems, some aspects of magnetic-dipolar oscillations in a normally magnetized ferrite disc should be re-considered based on macroscopically quantized methods. The purpose of this paper is to develop macroscopically quantized phenomenological models for magnetostatic-wave ferrite discs based on the Schrödinger-like equation. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)