Uniaxial anisotropy in polycrystalline material

A kind of unidirectional anisotropy determining one easy direction of magnetization in a limited field range results from the preferential cone for the position of spontaneous magnetization. In single domain particles, the preferential cone causes a constricted magnetization curve, parts of which are similar to a reversible rectifier characteristic that is not found in constricted Perminvar-type loops. The properties of this anisotropy are discussed by the example of hexagonal crystals; calculated magnetization curves and experimental results are given. The characteristic described may be useful in memory application with nondestructive readout and non-linear applications.