Instability Pattern Formation in a Liquid Metal under High Magnetic Fields

Magnetic field can generate interface instability when some liquids are put close to magnetic field. A well-known interface instability is called Rosensweig instability or normal field instability. Here we report that pure liquid Co can be highly undercooled close to its Curie temperature in strong magnetic field with very high magnetization and exhibiting unique morphology instability called the normal field instability. To obtain such unique instability pattern, the sample size, undercooling and magnetic field intensity need fulfill certain condition. In the present study, we have studied the required condition for obtaining normal field instability. The magnetization of the undercooled liquid Co is measured in a wide temperature range with different magnetic field intensities and calculated as a function of undercooling and field intensity. The critical size and critical magnetization for the normal field instability are calculated with the changing temperature and field intensity. Then the required conditions including the critical size, the minimum undercooling and field intensity for the existence of the instability pattern formation are determined.