Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: Artificial spin ice arrays of micromagnetic islands are a means of engineering additional energy scales and frustration into magnetic materials. Here we demonstrate a magnetic phase transition in an artificial square spin ice and use the symmetry of the lattice to verify the presence of excitations far below the ordering temperature. We do this by measuring the temperature-dependent magnetization in different principal directions and comparing it with simulations of idealized statistical mechanical models. Our results confirm a dynamical pre-melting of the artificial spin ice structure at a temperature well below the intrinsic ordering temperature of the island material. We thus create a spin ice array that has the real thermal dynamics of artificial spins over an extended temperature range.
Source: New Journal of Physics
Authors: Vassilios Kapaklis, Unnar B Arnalds, Adam Harman-Clarke, Evangelos Th Papaioannou, Masoud Karimipour, Panagiotis Korelis, Andrea Taroni, Peter C W Holdsworth, Steven T Bramwell, Björgvin Hjörvarsson
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,610
Funders: U.S. Department of Energy, Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education, Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse, Vetenskapsrådet, Institut Universitaire de France, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Basic Energy Sciences, Brookhaven National Laboratory
OpenAlex ID: W2129105606