The results of extensive Monte Carlo simulations of classical spins on the two-dimensional kagome lattice with only dipolar interactions are presented. In addition to revealing the six-fold degenerate ground state, the nature of the finite-temperature phase transition to long-range magnetic order is discussed. Low temperature states consisting of mixtures of degenerate ground state configurations separated by domain walls can be explained as a result of competing exchange-like and shape anisotropy-like terms in the dipolar coupling. Fluctuations between pairs of degenerate spin configurations are found to persist well into the ordered state as the temperature is lowered until locking in to a low-energy state.
We analyse an array of linearly extended monodomain dipoles forming square and kagome lattices. We find that its phase diagram contains two (distinct) finite-entropy kagome ice regimes - one disordered, one algebraic - as well as a low-temperature ordered phase. In the limit of the islands almost touching, we find a staircase of corresponding entropy plateaux, which is analytically captured by a theory based on magnetic charges. For the case of a modified square ice array, we show that the charges ('monopoles') are excitations experiencing two distinct Coulomb interactions: a magnetic 'three-d…
Spin ice, a peculiar thermal state of a frustrated ferromagnet on the pyrochlore lattice, has a finite entropy density and excitations carrying magnetic charge. By combining analytical arguments and Monte Carlo simulations, we show that spin ice on the two-dimensional kagome lattice orders in two stages. The intermediate phase has ordered magnetic charges and is separated from the paramagnetic phase by an Ising transition. The transition to the low-temperature phase is of the three-state Potts or Kosterlitz-Thouless type, depending on the presence of defects in charge order.
Results are presented on analytic and computational analyses of the spin states associated with a 3D fcc lattice composed of ABC stacked kagome planes of magnetic ions with only long-range dipole-dipole interactions. Extending previous work on the 2D kagome system, where discrete six-fold discrete degeneracy of the ground state was revealed [Holden et al. Phys. Rev. B 91, 224425 (2015)], we show that the 3D lattice exhibits a continuous degeneracy characterized by just two spherical angles involving six sublattice spin vectors. Application of a Heat Bath Monte Carlo algorithm shows that therma…
A promising route to realize entangled magnetic states combines geometrical frustration with quantum-tunneling effects. Spin-ice materials are canonical examples of frustration, and Ising spins in a transverse magnetic field are the simplest many-body model of quantum tunneling. Here, we show that the tripod kagome lattice material Ho${_3}$Mg${_2}$Sb${_3}$O${_{14}}$ unites an ice-like magnetic degeneracy with quantum-tunneling terms generated by an intrinsic splitting of the Ho$^{3+}$ ground-state doublet, which is further coupled to a nuclear spin bath. Using neutron scattering and thermodyna…
Recently, significant interest has emerged in fabricated systems that mimic the behavior of geometrically-frustrated materials. We present the full realization of such an artificial spin ice system on a two-dimensional kagome lattice and demonstrate rigid adherence to the local ice rule by directly counting individual pseudo-spins. The resulting spin configurations show not only local ice rules and long-range disorder, but also correlations consistent with spin ice Monte Carlo calculations. Our results suggest that dipolar corrections are significant in this system, as in pyrochlore spin ice, …
A new model of localized highly frustrated ferromagnetism is presented: kagome spin ice. By use of analytical and Monte Carlo calculations its massive groundstate entropy is evaluated. Monte Carlo calculations are also used to explore the phases in the presence of further-neighbor interactions and applied fields. The importance of thermal spin fluctuations and their ability to stabilize a variety of magnetic structures is clearly manifested. Remarkably, some of these phases are only partially ordered and present both disordered and ordered sublattices.
We show results of Monte Carlo simulations of an array of monodispersed magnetic monodomain particles, in a square lattice with dipolar interactions and perpendicular uniaxial anisotropy. We first show the equilibrium phase diagram of the system, which shows three phases, superparamagnetic (SP), out-of-plane antiferromagnetic and in-plane antiferromagnetic with a reorientation transition between the last two. We then employ a recently introduced time quantified Monte Carlo method to study the relaxation of autocorrelations of the particle array for different ratios of dipolar to anisotropy ene…
The effect of dipolar interactions in hexagonal arrays of Ni nanowires has been investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations combined with a scaling technique, which allows the investigation of the internal structure of the wires. A strong dependence of the coercivity and remanence on the distance between wires has been observed. At intermediate packing densities the coercivity exhibits a maximum, higher than the non-interacting value. This behavior, experimentally observed, has been explained on grounds of the interwire dipolar interactions. Also, different reversal modes of the magnetiza…
The kagome lattice -- a two-dimensional (2D) arrangement of corner-sharing triangles -- is at the forefront of the search for exotic states generated by magnetic frustration. Such states have been observed experimentally for Heisenberg and planar spins. In contrast, frustration of Ising spins on the kagome lattice has previously been restricted to nano-fabricated systems and spin-ice materials under applied magnetic field. Here, we show that the layered Ising magnet Dy3Mg2Sb3O14 hosts an emergent order predicted theoretically for individual kagome layers of in-plane Ising spins. Neutron-scatte…
Spin ice materials, such as Dy2Ti2O7 and Ho2Ti2O7, have been the subject of much interest for over the past fifteen years. Their low temperature strongly correlated state can be mapped onto the proton disordered state of common water ice and, consequently, spin ices display the same low temperature residual Pauling entropy as water ice. Interestingly, it was found in a previous study [X. Ke {\it et. al.} Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 99}, 137203 (2007)] that, upon dilution of the magnetic rare-earth ions (Dy^{3+} and Ho^{3+}) by non-magnetic Yttrium (Y^{3+}) ions, the residual entropy depends {\it non…
Understanding the influence of dipolar interactions in magnetic hyperthermia (MH) experiments is of crucial importance for a fine optimization of nanoparticle (NP) heating power. In this study, we use a kinetic Monte-Carlo algorithm to calculate hysteresis loops, so both time and temperature are correctly taken into account. It is demonstrated that this algorithm correctly reproduces the high-frequency hysteresis loop of both superparamagnetic NPs and ferromagnetic ones without any ad-hoc parameters. The algorithm is easily parallelizable so calculation on several processors decreases consider…
Y{0.5}$Ca{0.5}BaCo4O7 contains kagome layers of Co ions, whose spins are strongly coupled according to a Curie-Weiss temperature of -2200 K. At low temperatures, T = 1.2 K, our diffuse neutron scattering study with polarization analysis reveals characteristic spin correlations close to a predicted two-dimensional coplanar ground state with staggered chirality. The absence of three dimensional long-range AF order proves negligible coupling between the kagome layers. The scattering intensities are consistent with high spin S=3/2 states of Co2+ in the kagome layers and low spin S=0 states for Co3…
Spin correlations in the geometrically frustrated RBaCo4O7 compounds, usually described as an alternating stacking of Kagome and triangular layers on a hexagonal lattice, have been studied by mean-field approach and by Monte-Carlo simulations. The behavior of the system was modelled with an isotropic Heisenberg Hamiltonian as a function of the relevant parameter Jout/Jin, representing the ratio between exchange integrals inside the Kagome layers, Jin, and between Kagome and triangular layers, Jout. This ratio can be varied in real systems by appropriate chemical substitutions. At the mean-fiel…
A new type of magnetically frustrated lattice is found in the layered fluoride NaBa2Mn3F11. A kagome-type array of regular triangles composed of Mn2+ ions (spin 5/2) deforms so as to generate the next-nearest-neighbor interaction J2 between three out of six spins in the hexagon of a normal kagome lattice, in addition to the nearest-neighbor interaction J1. As a function of |J2/J1|, this lattice can interconnect the kagome (J2 = 0) and the triangular (J2 = J1) lattices and thus is called the kagome-triangular (KT) lattice. Magnetic susceptibility and heat capacity measurements performed on a po…
We show that a continuous set of degenerate critical soft modes strongly enhances the first-order character of a fluctuation-induced first-order transition in the pyrochlore dipolar Heisenberg antiferromagnet. Such a degeneracy seems essential to explain the strong first-order transition recently observed in Gd(2)Sn(2)O(7). We present some evidence from Monte-Carlo simulations and a perturbative renormalization group expansion.
Spin ices are exotic phases of matter characterized by frustrated spins obeying local ice rules, in analogy with the electric dipoles in water ice. In two dimensions, one can similarly define ice rules for in-plane Ising-like spins arranged on a kagome lattice. These ice rules require each triangle plaquette to have a single monopole, and can lead to various unique orders and excitations. Using experimental and theoretical approaches including magnetometry, thermodynamic measurements, neutron scattering and Monte Carlo simulations, we establish HoAgGe as a crystalline (i.e. non-artificial) sys…
We report on a theoretical investigation of artificial spin-ice dipolar arrays, using a nanoisland geometry adopted from recent experiments [A. Farhan \textit{et al.}, Nature Phys.\ \textbf{9} (2013) 375]. The number of thermal magnetic string excitations in the square lattice is drastically increased by a vertical displacement of rows and columns. We find large increments especially for low temperatures and for string excitations with quasi-monopoles of charges $\pm 4$. By kinetic Monte Carlo simulations we address the thermal stability of such excitations, thereby providing time scales for t…
We investigate the magnetism of a previously unexplored distorted spin-1/2 kagome model consisting of three symmetry-inequivalent nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic Heisenberg couplings Jhexagon, J and J', and uncover a rich ground state phase diagram even at the classical level. Using analytical arguments and numerical techniques we identify a collinear Q = 0 magnetic phase, two unusual non-collinear coplanar Q = (1/3,1/3) phases and a classical spin liquid phase with a degenerate manifold of non-coplanar ground states, resembling the jammed spin liquid phase found in the context of a bond-di…
