Sedimentation equilibrium of magnetic nanoparticles with strong dipole-dipole interactions.

Langevin dynamics simulation is used to study the suspension of interacting magnetic nanoparticles (dipolar spheres) in a zero applied magnetic field and in the presence of a gravitational (centrifugal) field. A particular emphasis is placed on the equilibrium vertical distribution of particles in the infinite horizontal slab. An increase in the dipolar coupling constant λ (the ratio of dipole-dipole interaction energy to thermal energy) from zero to seven units causes an increase in the particle segregation coefficient by several orders of magnitude. The effect of anisotropic dipole-dipole interactions on the concentration profile of particles is the same as that of the isotropic van der Waals attraction modeled by the Lennard-Jones potential. In both cases, the area with a high-density gradient separating the area with high and low particle concentration is formed on the profiles. Qualitative difference between two potentials manifests itself only in the fact that in the absence of a gravitational field the dipole-dipole interactions do not lead to the "gas-liquid" phase transition: no separation of the system into weakly and highly concentrated phases is observed. At high particle concentration and at large values of λ, the orientational ordering of magnetic dipoles takes place in the system. Magnetic structure of the system strongly depends on the imposed boundary conditions. Spontaneous magnetization occurs in the infinite horizontal slab (i.e., in the rectangular cell with two-dimensional periodic boundary conditions). Replacement of the infinite slab by the finite-size hard-wall vertical cylinder leads to the formation of azimuthal (vortex-like) order. The critical values of the coupling constant corresponding to the transition into an ordered state are very close for two geometries.