Extracting the intrinsic switching field distribution in perpendicular media: A comparative analysis

We introduce a method based on the first-order-reversal-curve (FORC) diagram to extract the intrinsic (microscopic) switching-field distribution (SFD) of perpendicular recording media (PRM). To demonstrate the viability of the method, we micromagnetically simulated FORCs for PRM with known SFD. The extracted SFD is compared with the SFD obtained by means of two different methods that are based on recoil loops, too, which, however, rely on mean-field approximations and assumptions on the shape of the SFD. The FORC method turns out to be the most accurate algorithm over the technologically relevant range of magnetic quality factors Q, where the other methods overestimate the width of the SFD. (C) 2006 American Institute of Physics.