Hybrid Molecular and Spin Dynamics Simulations for Ensembles of Magnetic Nanoparticles for Magnetoresistive Systems

The development of magnetoresistive sensors based on magnetic nanoparticles which are immersed in conductive gel matrices requires detailed information about the corresponding magnetoresistive properties in order to obtain optimal sensor sensitivities. Here, crucial parameters are the particle concentration, the viscosity of the gel matrix and the particle structure. Experimentally, it is not possible to obtain detailed information about the magnetic microstructure, i.e., orientations of the magnetic moments of the particles that define the magnetoresistive properties, however, by using numerical simulations one can study the magnetic microstructure theoretically, although this requires performing classical spin dynamics and molecular dynamics simulations simultaneously. Here, we present such an approach which allows us to calculate the orientation and the trajectory of every single magnetic nanoparticle. This enables us to study not only the static magnetic microstructure, but also the dynamics of the structuring process in the gel matrix itself. With our hybrid approach, arbitrary sensor configurations can be investigated and their magnetoresistive properties can be optimized.