Angle dependent magnetization reversal of thin film magnetic recording media

The results of angular measurements of the remanent switching fields for granular longitudinal and perpendicular magnetic recording media are presented and compared to idealized models of magnetic switching. Co alloy longitudinal and perpendicular recording media are found primarily to have a Stoner-Wohlfarth switching character at vibrating sample magnetometer time scales. Since the Stoner-Wohlfarth model does not consider the effects of thermal activation, the angular dependence of the time independent switching field H-swro(theta) was determined from a Sharrock analysis. This approach shows a closer agreement between experimental data and model. For the case of a representative high density longitudinal recording medium, we additionally investigate the switching field distribution. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.