Comparison of Langevin dynamics and direct energy barrier computation

Two complementary methods to study thermal effects in micromagnetics are compared. On short time scales Langevin dynamics gives insight in the thermally activated dynamics. For longer time scales the "nudged elastic band" method is applied. The method calculates a highly probable thermal switching path between two local energy minima of a micromagnetic system. Comparing the predicted thermal transition rates between ground states in small softmagnetic elements up to a size of 90 x 90 x 4.5 nm(3) gives good agreement of the methods (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.