Numerical Laboratory for K-12 to Learn and Practice Measuring and Modeling Ferromagnetic Resonant Materials

Higher frequency magnetic materials are necessary to miniaturize and optimize the power electronics used in everyday items such as computers, cellphones and household electronics. Nanotechnology has shown promising advances in the field of magnetic materials in the medical industry such as medical imaging and cancer therapeutics. While there is significant prospect in these magnetic nanomaterials, there is presently not enough easily available information and learning modules to help train the next generation of scientists and engineers in the application of these materials. This paper presents a rigorous radio-frequency (RF) characterization of superparamagnetic (SPM) magnetite (Fe<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</inf>O<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</inf>) nanocrystals using vector network analyzer-ferromagnetic resonance (VNA-FMR) measurements. The module is designed to guide senior year high school students and educators through the theory, modeling, and experimentation of gyromagnetic resonance of these nanocrystals by building upon a foundational understanding of spin physics. Measurements taken from the VNA-FMR are provided for the student to take measurements of spin coefficient values, perform first principles calculations, use them in micromagnetics modeling through the Ubermag software, and finally compare against the provided VNA-FMR results. Students should observe that there exists a high frequency loss region not corresponding to FMR and a diagonal trend line that they can use to calculate spin coefficients.