The magnetic relaxation of ferromagnetic powders has been studied for many years, largely due to its importance to recording technologies. However, only recently have experiments been performed that resolve the magnetic state of individual sub-micron particles. Motivated by these experimental developments, we use droplet theory and Monte Carlo simulations to study the time and field dependence of some quantities that can be observed by magnetic force microscopy. Particular emphasis is placed on the effects of finite particle size. The qualitative agreement between experiments on switching and our simulations in individual single-domain ferromagnets suggests that the switching mechanism in such particles may involve local nucleation and subsequent growth of droplets of the stable phase.

We present two recent applications of lattice-gas modeling techniques to electrochemical adsorption on catalytically active metal substrates: urea on Pt (100) and (bi)sulfate on Rh(111). Both systems involve the speci c adsorption of small molecules or ions on well-characterized single-crystal electrodes, and they provide a particularly good t between the adsorbate geometry and the substrate structure. The close geometric t facilitates the formation of ordered submonolayer adsorbate phases in a range of electrode potential positive of the range in which an adsorbed monolayer of hydrogen is stable. In both systems the ordered-phase region is separated from the adsorbed-hydrogen region by a phase transition, signi ed in cyclic voltammograms by a sharp current peak. Based on data from in situ radiochemical surface concentration measurements, cyclic voltammetry, and scanning tunneling microscopy, and ex situ Auger electron spectroscopy and low-energy electron di raction, we have developed speci c lattice-gas models for the two systems. These models were studied by group-theoretical ground-state calculations and numerical Monte Carlo simulations, and e ective lattice-gas interaction parameters were determined so as to provide agreement with the experimental results.

For more than three decades, measurement of terrace width distributions (TWDs) of vicinal crystal surfaces have been recognized as arguably the best way to determine the dimensionless strength A of the elastic repulsion between steps. For sufficiently strong repulsions, the TWD is expected to be Gaussian, withà varying inversely with the squared variance. However, there has been a controversy over the proportionality constant. From another perspective the TWD can be described as a continuous generalized Wigner distribution (CGWD) essentially no more complicated than a Gaussian but a much better approximation at the few calibration points where exact solutions exist. This paper combines concisely the experimentally most useful results from several earlier papers on this subject and describes some advancements that are in progress regarding numerical tests and in using Schrödinger-equation formalism to give greater understanding of the origin of the CGWD and to give hope of extensions to more general interaction potentials between steps. There are many implications for future experiments.

Recently it has been recognized that the so-called generalized Wigner distribution may provide at least as good a description of terrace width distributions (TWDs) on vicinal surfaces as the standard Gaussian fit and is particularly applicable for weak repulsions between steps, where the latter fails. Subsequent applications to vicinal copper surfaces at various temperatures confirmed the serviceability of the new analysis procedure but raised some theoretical questions.Here we address these issues using analytical, numerical, and statistical methods. We propose an extension of the generalized Wigner distribution to a two-parameter fit that allows the terrace widths to be scaled by an optimal effective mean width. We discuss quantitatively the approach of a Wigner distribution to a Gaussian form for strong repulsions, how errors in normalization or mean affect the deduced interaction, and how optimally to extract the interaction from the variance and mean of the TWD. We show that correlations reduce by two orders of magnitude the number of independent measurements in a typical STM image. We also discuss the effect of the discreteness ("quantization") of terrace widths, finding that for high misorientation (small mean width) the standard continuum analysis gives faulty estimates of step interactions.

1 Magnetization switching in highly anisotropic single-domain ferromagnets has been previously shown to be qualitatively described by the droplet theory of metastable decay and simulations of two-dimensional kinetic Ising systems with periodic boundary conditions. In this article we consider the effects of boundary conditions on the switching phenomena. A rich range of behaviors is predicted by droplet theory: the specific mechanism by which switching occurs depends on the structure of the boundary, the particle size, the temperature, and the strength of the applied field. The theory predicts the existence of a peak in the switching field as a function of system size in both systems with periodic boundary conditions and in systems with boundaries. The size of the peak is strongly dependent on the boundary effects. It is generally reduced by open boundary conditions, and in some cases it disappears if the boundaries are too favorable towards nucleation. However, we also demonstrate conditions under which the peak remains discernible. This peak arises as a purely dynamic effect and is not related to the possible existence of multiple domains. We illustrate the predictions of droplet theory by Monte Carlo simulations of two-dimensional Ising systems with various system shapes and boundary conditions. PACS Number(s): 75.50. Tt, 75.40.Mg, 64.60.Qb, 05.50.+q.