Closure of minor hysteresis loops in disordered antiferromagnetic systems

Closure of quasistatic minor hysteresis loops in disordered Ising-like systems with short-range antiferromagnetic interactions is studied numerically. State of each Ising spin is given by a symmetrical rectangular hysteresis loop. Inherent disorder in the system is modeled by a probability distribution of the spins' switching thresholds. Numerical implementation of the two-dimensional system shows that minor hysteresis loops do not close at interactions strength above a certain value. Ńel's type mean-field approximation of this system demonstrates a similar behavior with a much more abrupt transition to open minor loops. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.