Experimental determination of the distribution of relaxation time for thermally activated transition in thin film magnetic recording media

Although grain size distribution has significant effects on the time decay behavior of thin film magnetic recording media, the grains size itself is n ot a truly independent parameter due to intergranular exchange coupling. Re laxation time incorporates the interaction. Its distribution will determine the time decay performance of thin film magnetic recording media. An algor ithm is proposed to determine the unique distribution of relaxation time in magnetic recording media directly from the experimental data without any p resumption. It was found for the first time that the distribution of relaxa tion time is very well described by Weibull distribution. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)62308-8].