On the Theory of Spin Waves in Ferromagnetic Media

Abstract

The theory of spin waves, leading to the Bloch $T^{\frac{3}{2}}$ law for the temperature variation of saturation magnetization, is discussed for ferromagnetic insulators and metals, with emphasis on its relation to the theory of the energy of the Bloch interdomain wall. The analysis indicates that spin-wave theory is of more general validity than the Heitler-London-Heisenberg model from which it was originally derived. Many properties of spin waves of long wavelength can be derived without specialized assumptions, by a field-theoretical treatment of the ferromagnetic material as a continuous medium in which the densities of the three components of spin are regarded as amplitudes of a quantized vector field. As applications, the effects of anisotropy energy and magnetic forces are calculated; and it is shown that the Holstein-Primakoff result for the field dependence of the saturation magnetization can be derived in an elementary manner. An examination of the conditions for validity of the field theory indicates that it should be valid for insulators, and probably also for metals, independently of any simplifying assumptions. The connection with the itinerant electron model of a metal is discussed; it appears that this model is incomplete in that it omits certain spin wave states which can be proved to exist, and that when these are included, it will yield both a magnetization reversal proportional to $T^{\frac{3}{2}}$ and a specific heat proportional to $T$. Incidental results include some insight into the relation between the exchange and Ising models for a two-dimensional lattice, an upper limit to the effective exchange integral, and a treatment of spin waves in rhombic lattices.