Thermal field fluctuations in a magnetic tip/implications for magnetic resonance force microscopy

Thermally excited magnetic fluctuations are fundamental to the behavior of small ferromagnetic particles and have practical consequences for the proposed detection of individual spins by magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM). In particular, fluctuating fields from a nearby magnetic tip can increase the relaxation rate of spins in a sample if there is significant spectral density of field fluctuation at the Larmor frequency of the target spin. As an initial step toward understanding this issue, magnetic field fluctuations have been simulated which emanate from a magnetic tip with dimensions 60 nm×60 nm×2 μm. It was found that the fluctuations in a cobalt magnetic tip were too strong for MRFM experiments aimed at detecting individual electron spins. However, the results obtained for a PrFeB tip fell within the tolerance required. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.