Universal properties of magnetization dynamics in polycrystalline ferromagnetic films

We investigate the scaling behavior in the statistical properties of Barkhausen noise in ferromagnetic films. We apply the statistical treatment usually employed for bulk materials in experimental Barkhausen noise time series measured with the traditional inductive technique in polycrystalline ferromagnetic films having different thickness from 100 to 1000 nm and determine the scaling exponents. Based on this procedure, we group the samples in a single universality class, since the scaling behavior of Barkhausen avalanches is characterized by exponents τ∼1.5, α∼2.0, and 1/σνz∼ϑ∼2.0 for all the films. We interpret these results in terms of theoretical models and provide experimental evidence that a well-known mean-field model for the dynamics of a ferromagnetic domain wall in three-dimensional ferromagnets can be extended for films. We identify that the films present an universal three-dimensional magnetization dynamics, governed by long-range dipolar interactions, even at the smallest thicknesses, indicating that the two-dimensional magnetic behavior commonly verified for films cannot be generalized for all thickness ranges.