LAUSR

Abstract The phenomenon of drift motion of single-domain ferromagnetic particles induced by the Magnus force in a viscous fluid is studied analytically. We use a minimal set of equations to describe the translational and rotational motions of these particles subjected to a harmonic force and a non-uniformly rotating magnetic field. Assuming that the azimuthal angle of the magnetic field is a periodic triangular function, we analytically solve the rotational equation of motion in the steady state and calculate the drift velocity of particles. We study in detail the dependence of this velocity on the model parameters, discuss the applicability of the drift phenomenon for separation of particles in suspensions, and verify numerically the analytical predictions.