On the ability to determine intrinsic switching field distributions from hysteresis loops in the partially correlated magnetization reversal regime

In the present work we use computational analysis based on the interacting hysteron model to address the question in how far intrinsic microscopic materials information can be retrieved from magnetic hysteresis loop data. Specifically, the goal is to understand whether it is possible to determine the intrinsic switching field distribution if exchange and magneto-static interactions of variable strength are simultaneously present in the material. We find that due to an existing degeneracy of hysteresis data sets, it is generally not possible to separately determine contributions from exchange and magneto-static interactions, even if the magnetization reversal is only partially correlated. However, the intrinsic switching field distribution could always be accurately determined, as long as the system remains in the uncorrelated or partially correlated magnetization reversal regime.