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Exploring hyper-cubic energy landscapes in thermally active finite artificial spin-ice systems

Nature Physics volume 9, pages 375–382 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Two-dimensional artificial spin-ice systems constructed from arrays of dipolar coupled monodomain magnets offer an experimental route to study the physics of frustration and a corresponding degeneracy that grows exponentially with system size. However, so far, such systems remain mainly frozen below their magnet’s Curie temperature, unable to explore their potential-energy landscape through thermal fluctuations. Here we demonstrate the creation of thermally active finite artificial spin-ice systems and the observation of magnetic fluctuations in real time and space. We show that the subsequent magnetization dynamics can be entirely understood from the underlying dipolar energy landscape, and demonstrate that both the energy scale and the complexity of the landscape affect the temporal and spatial nature of the observed configurational changes. This work paves the way for the in situ study of thermally induced magnetic relaxation processes and delivers a controlled route to the lowest-energy state in extended two-dimensional artificial spin-ice systems.

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Figure 1: Finite artificial kagome spin-ice systems and real-time measurement of their dynamic magnetic structure using PEEM.
Figure 2: Hyper-cubic energy landscapes of finite artificial kagome spin-ice systems.
Figure 3: Temporally resolved dynamics of the magnetic degrees of freedom.
Figure 4: Single-ring residence times and instantaneous nearest-neighbour magnetic correlation at 420 K.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank A. Weber, V. Guzenko, E. Deckardt and M. Bednarzik for their help. This work was supported by the Swiss National Foundation and the Swiss Nanoscience Institute, University of Basel, and part of this work was carried out at the SIM beamline of the Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland

    A. Farhan, R. V. Chopdekar, L. Anghinolfi & L. J. Heyderman

  2. Department of Materials, Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland

    A. Farhan, L. Anghinolfi & L. J. Heyderman

  3. Condensed Matter Theory Group, NUM, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland

    P. M. Derlet

  4. Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland

    A. Kleibert, A. Balan, R. V. Chopdekar, M. Wyss & F. Nolting

  5. Swiss Nanoscience Institute, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, Switzerland

    M. Wyss

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Contributions

Sample preparation: A.F.; measurements: A.F., A.B., M.W., L.A; analysis and interpretation: A.F., P.M.D., A.K., L.J.H., R.V.C.; theory and simulations: P.M.D.; preparation of the manuscript: A.F., P.M.D., A.K., L.J.H.; supervision of the project: L.J.H., F.N. All authors contributed to the manuscript.

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Correspondence to P. M. Derlet or L. J. Heyderman.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Farhan, A., Derlet, P., Kleibert, A. et al. Exploring hyper-cubic energy landscapes in thermally active finite artificial spin-ice systems. Nature Phys 9, 375–382 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2613

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