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Metamagnetism
 
 
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Metamagnetism is a blanket term used loosely in physics to describe a sudden (often, dramatic) increase in the magnetization
Magnetization

Magnetization is defined as the quantity of magnetic moment per unit volume. The origin of the magnetic moments responsible for magnetization can be either microscopic electric currents resulting from the motion of electrons in atoms, or the spin of the electrons or the nuclei....
 of a material with a small change in an externally applied magnetic field
Magnetic field

A magnetism field is a vector field which can exert a magnetic force on moving electric charges and on magnetic dipoles . When placed in a magnetic field, magnetic dipoles tend to align their axes parallel to the magnetic field....
. The metamagnetic behavior may have quite different physical causes for different types of metamagnets. Some examples of physical mechanisms leading to metamagnetic behavior are:

  1. Itinerant Metamagnetism - Exchange splitting of the Fermi surface
    Fermi surface

    In condensed matter physics, the Fermi surface is an abstract boundary useful for predicting the thermal, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties of metals, semimetals, and doped semiconductors....
     in a paramagnetic system of itinerant
    Itinerant

    An itinerant is a person who travels from place to place with no fixed home.Types of itinerants:*Russian art movement Peredvizhniki is often translated as Itinerants...
     electrons causes an energetically favorable transition to bulk magnetization near the transition to a ferromagnet or other magnetically ordered state.
  2. Antiferromagnetic Transition - Field-induced spin flips in antiferromagnets cascade at a critical energy determined by the applied magnetic field.


Depending on the material and experimental conditions, metamagnetism may be associated with a first-order phase transition
Phase transition

In thermodynamics, a phase transition is the transformation of a thermodynamic system from one phase to another.At phase-transition point, physical properties may undergo abrupt change- for instance, volume of the two phases may be vastly different....
, a continuous phase transition at a critical point
Critical point

Critical point may refer to:*Critical point *Critical point *Critical point See also*Brillouin zone*Percolation thresholds...
 (classical or quantum), or crossovers beyond a critical point that do not involve a phase transition at all.






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Metamagnetism is a blanket term used loosely in physics to describe a sudden (often, dramatic) increase in the magnetization
Magnetization

Magnetization is defined as the quantity of magnetic moment per unit volume. The origin of the magnetic moments responsible for magnetization can be either microscopic electric currents resulting from the motion of electrons in atoms, or the spin of the electrons or the nuclei....
 of a material with a small change in an externally applied magnetic field
Magnetic field

A magnetism field is a vector field which can exert a magnetic force on moving electric charges and on magnetic dipoles . When placed in a magnetic field, magnetic dipoles tend to align their axes parallel to the magnetic field....
. The metamagnetic behavior may have quite different physical causes for different types of metamagnets. Some examples of physical mechanisms leading to metamagnetic behavior are:

  1. Itinerant Metamagnetism - Exchange splitting of the Fermi surface
    Fermi surface

    In condensed matter physics, the Fermi surface is an abstract boundary useful for predicting the thermal, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties of metals, semimetals, and doped semiconductors....
     in a paramagnetic system of itinerant
    Itinerant

    An itinerant is a person who travels from place to place with no fixed home.Types of itinerants:*Russian art movement Peredvizhniki is often translated as Itinerants...
     electrons causes an energetically favorable transition to bulk magnetization near the transition to a ferromagnet or other magnetically ordered state.
  2. Antiferromagnetic Transition - Field-induced spin flips in antiferromagnets cascade at a critical energy determined by the applied magnetic field.


Depending on the material and experimental conditions, metamagnetism may be associated with a first-order phase transition
Phase transition

In thermodynamics, a phase transition is the transformation of a thermodynamic system from one phase to another.At phase-transition point, physical properties may undergo abrupt change- for instance, volume of the two phases may be vastly different....
, a continuous phase transition at a critical point
Critical point

Critical point may refer to:*Critical point *Critical point *Critical point See also*Brillouin zone*Percolation thresholds...
 (classical or quantum), or crossovers beyond a critical point that do not involve a phase transition at all. These wildly different physical explanations sometimes lead to confusion as to what the term "metamagnetic" is referring in specific cases.