Features of relaxation of the remanent magnetization of antiferromagnetic nanoparticles by the example of ferrihydrite

The relaxation of the remanent magnetization of antiferromagnetically ordered ferrihydrite nanoparticles at the exchange bias effect implemented in these systems has been investigated. The magnetization relaxation depends logarithmically on time, which is typical of the thermally activated hoppings of particle magnetic moments through the potential barriers caused by the magnetic anisotropy. The barrier energy obtained by processing of the remanent magnetization relaxation data under the field cooling conditions significantly exceeds the barrier energy under standard (zero field cooling) conditions. The observed difference points out the possibility of using the remanent magnetization relaxation to analyze the mechanisms responsible for the exchange bias effect in antiferromagnetic nanoparticles and measure the parameters of the exchange coupling of magnetic subsystems in such objects.