Study of hysteresis for steplike giant magnetoimpedance sensor based on magnetic energy

A giant magnetoimpedance sensor with a steplike impedance property was reported in the case of amorphous soft magnetic thin film in a rectangle shape with an in-plane uniaxial easy axis in a controlled direction. The steplike change of impedance happens simultaneously with a change of magnetic domain, and its physical basis was declared as the intersection of the level of magnetic energy in each case of these domain structures. An actual variation of steplike impedance as a function of external magnetic field typically has a hysteretic property. In this study, an explanation of the hysteretic property is discussed based on an introduction of asymmetrical threshold energy, and then an experimental confirmation is carried out for the proposed analytical model. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.