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Magnetic anisotropy is the dependence of the internal energy of a system on the direction of the spontaneous magnetisation. An energy term of this kind is called magnetic anisotropy energy. In general most kinds of magnetic anisotropy are related to the crystal symmetry of a material and this is known as magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Anisotropy can also be related to mechanical stress in the system and this is known as magnetostrictive anisotropy.