Magnetization reversal of interconnected Kagome artificial spin ice was studied by the first-order reversal curve (FORC) technique based on the magneto-optical Kerr effect and magnetoresistance measurements. The magnetization reversal exhibits a distinct six-fold symmetry with the external field orientation. When the field is parallel to one of the nano-bar branches, the domain nucleation/propagation and annihilation processes sensitively depend on the field cycling history and the maximum field applied. When the field is nearly perpendicular to one of the branches, the FORC measurement reveals the magnetic interaction between the Dirac strings and orthogonal branches during the magnetization reversal process. Our results demonstrate that the FORC approach provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the magnetic interaction in the magnetization reversal processes of spin-frustrated systems.
Magnetic frustration effects in artificial kagome arrays of nanomagnets are investigated using x-ray photoemission electron microscopy and Monte Carlo simulations. Spin configurations of demagnetized networks reveal unambiguous signatures of long range, dipolar interaction between the nanomagnets. As soon as the system enters the spin ice manifold, the kagome dipolar spin ice model captures the observed physics, while the short range kagome spin ice model fails.
Magnetic nanoarray with special geometries exhibits nontrivial collective behaviors similar to those observed in the spin ice materials. Here we present a novel circuit model to describe the complex magnetotransport phenomena in artificial kagome spin ice. In this picture, the system can be viewed as a resistor network driven by voltage sources that are located at vertices of the honeycomb array. The differential voltages across different terminals of these sources are related to the ice-rules that govern the local magnetization ordering. The circuit model relates the transverse Hall voltage o…
We report angular-dependent spin-wave spectroscopy on kagome artificial spin ice made of large arrays of interconnected Ni80Fe20 nanobars. Spectra taken in saturated and disordered states exhibit a series of resonances with characteristic in-plane angular dependencies. Micromagnetic simulations allow us to interpret characteristic resonances of a two-step magnetization reversal of the nanomagnets. The dynamic properties are consistent with topological defects that are provoked via a magnetic field applied at specific angles. Simulations that we performed on previously investigated kagome artif…
We report broadband spin-wave spectroscopy on kagome artificial spin ice (ASI) made of large arrays of interconnected Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20}$ nanobars. Spectra taken in saturated and disordered states exhibit a series of resonances with characteristic magnetic field dependencies. Making use of micromagnetic simulations, we identify resonances that reflect the spin-solid-state and monopole-antimonopole pairs on Dirac strings. The latter resonances allow for the generation of highly-charged vertices in ASIs via microwave assisted switching. Our findings open further perspectives for fundamental studi…
Artificial spin ices (ASIs) are designable arrays of interacting nanomagnets that span a wide range of magnetic phases associated with a number of spin lattice models. Here, we demonstrate that the phase of an artificial kagome spin ice can be determined from its initial magnetization curve. As a proof of concept, micromagnetic simulations of these curves were performed starting from representative microstates of different phases of the system. We show that the curves are characterized by phase-specific features in such a way that a pattern recognition algorithm predicts the phase of the initi…
We investigate spin dynamics of artificial spin ice (ASI) where topological defects confine magnon modes in Ni$_{81}$Fe$_{19}$ nanomagnets arranged on an interconnected kagome lattice. Brillouin light scattering microscopy performed on magnetically disordered states exhibit a series of magnon resonances which depend on topological defect configurations detected by magnetic force microscopy. Nanomagnets on a Dirac string and between a monopole-antimonopole pair show pronounced modifications in magnon frequencies both in experiments and simulations. Our work is key for the creation and annihilat…
The study of magnetic correlations in dipolar-coupled nanomagnet systems with synchrotron x-ray scattering provides a means to uncover emergent phenomena and exotic phases, in particular in systems with thermally active magnetic moments. From the diffuse signal of soft x-ray resonant magnetic scattering, we have measured magnetic correlations in a highly dynamic artificial kagome spin ice with sub-70-nm Permalloy nanomagnets. On comparing experimental scattering patterns with Monte Carlo simulations based on a needle-dipole model, we conclude that kagome ice I phase correlations exist in our e…
Geometrical frustration in magnetic materials often gives rise to exotic, low-temperature states of matter, like the ones observed in spin ices. Here we report the imaging of the magnetic states of a thermally-active artificial magnetic ice that reveal the fingerprints of a spin fragmentation process. This fragmentation corresponds to a splitting of the magnetic degree of freedom into two channels and is evidenced in both real and reciprocal space. Furthermore, the internal organization of both channels is interpreted within the framework of a hybrid spin-charge model that directly emerges fro…
We introduce FePd$_{3}$ as a new material for studying thermally active artificial spin ice (ASI) systems and use it to investigate both the square and kagome ice geometries. We readily achieve perfect ground state ordering in the square lattice and demonstrate the highest yet degree of monopole charge-ordering in the kagome lattice. We find that smaller lattice constants in the kagome system generally produce larger domains of charge order. Monte Carlo simulations show excellent agreement with our data when a small amount of disorder is included in the simulation.
Artificial spin ices are engineered arrays of dipolarly coupled nanobar magnets. They enable direct investigations of fascinating collective phenomena from their diverse microstates. However, experimental access to ground states in the geometrically frustrated systems has proven difficult, limiting studies and applications of novel properties and functionalities from the low energy states. Here, we introduce a convenient approach to control the competing diploar interactions between the neighboring nanomagnets, allowing us to tailor the vertex degeneracy of the ground states. We achieve this b…
We show that in colloidal models of artificial kagome and modified square ice systems, a variety of ordering and disordering regimes occur as a function of biasing field, temperature, and colloid-colloid interaction strength, including ordered monopole crystals, biased ice rule states, thermally induced ice rule ground states, biased triple states, and disordered states. We describe the lattice geometries and biasing field protocols that create the different states and explain the formation of the states in terms of sublattice switching thresholds. For a system prepared in a monopole lattice s…
We have measured the angular dependence of ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectra for Fibonacci-distorted, Kagome artificial spin ice (ASI). The number of strong modes in the FMR spectra depend on the orientation of the applied DC magnetic field. In addition, discontinuities observed in the FMR field-frequency dispersion curves also depend on DC field orientation, and signal a multi-step DC magnetization reversal, which is caused by the reduced energy degeneracy of Fibonacci-distorted vertices. The results suggest the orientation of applied magnetic field and severity of Fibonacci distortion co…
We have studied frustrated kagome arrays and unfrustrated honeycomb arrays of magnetostatically-interacting single-domain ferromagnetic islands with magnetization normal to the plane. The measured pairwise spin correlations of both lattices can be reproduced by models based solely on nearest-neighbor correlations. The kagome array has qualitatively different magnetostatics but identical lattice topology to previously-studied 'artificial spin ice' systems composed of in-plane moments. The two systems show striking similarities in the development of moment pair correlations, demonstrating a univ…
Micromagnetic properties of monopoles in artificial kagome spin ice systems are investigated using numerical simulations. We show that micromagnetics brings additional complexity into the physics of these monopoles that is, by essence, absent in spin models: besides a fractionalized classical magnetic charge, monopoles in the artificial kagome ice are chiral at remanence. Our simulations predict that the chirality of these monopoles can be controlled without altering their charge state. This chirality breaks the vertex symmetry and triggers a directional motion of the monopole under an applied…
We present the dynamic response of a connected Kagome artificial spin ice with emphasis on the effect of the vertex magnetization configuration on the mode characteristics. We use broadband ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectroscopy and micromagnetic simulations to identify and characterize resonant modes. We find the mode frequencies of elongated, single-domain film segments not only depend on the orientation of their easy-axis with respect to the applied magnetic field, but also depend on the vertex magnetization configuration, which suggests control over the FMR mode can be accomplished by …
We investigate a set of topological arrangements of individual ferromagnetic islands in ideal and disordered artificial spin ice (ASI) arrays in order to evaluate how aspects of their field-driven reversal are affected by the model used. The set contains the pinwheel and square ice tilings, and thus a range of magnetic ordering and reversal properties are tested. We find that a simple point dipole model performs relatively well for square ice, but it does not replicate the properties observed in recent experiments with pinwheel ice. Parameterization of the reversal barrier in a Stoner-Wohlfart…
We investigate experimentally magnetic frustration effects in thermally active artificial kagome spin ice. Starting from a paramagnetic state, the system is cooled down below the Curie temperature of the constituent material. The resulting magnetic configurations show that our arrays are locally brought into the so-called spin ice 2 phase, predicted by at-equilibrium Monte Carlo simulations and characterized by a magnetic charge crystal embedded in a disordered kagome spin lattice. However, by studying our arrays on a larger scale, we find unambiguous signature of an out-of-equilibrium physics…
We present results of ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) experiments and micromagnetic simulations for a distorted, 2D Kagome artificial spin ice. The distorted structure is created by continuously modulating the 2D primitive lattice translation vectors of a periodic honeycomb lattice, according to an aperiodic Fibonacci sequence used to generate 1D quasicrystals. Experimental data and micromagnetic simulations show the Fibonacci distortion causes broadening and splitting of FMR modes into multiple branches, which accompany the increasing number of segment lengths and orientations that develop with…
We show that both square and kagome artificial spin ice systems exhibit disorder-induced nonequilibrium phase transitions, with power law avalanche distributions at the critical disorder level. The different nature of geometrical frustration in the two lattices produces distinct types of critical avalanche behavior. For the square ice, the avalanches involve the propagation of locally stable domain walls separating the two polarized ground states, and the scaling collapse agrees with an interface depinning mechanism. In contrast, avalanches in the fully frustrated kagome ice exhibit pronounced…
The two dimensional kagome spin lattice structure of Mn atoms in the family of Mn$_3$X non-collinear antiferromagnets are providing substantial excitement in the exploration of Berry curvature physics and the associated non-trivial magnetotransport responses. Much of these studies are performed in the hexagonal systems, mainly Mn$_3$Sn and Mn$_3$Ge, with the kagome planes having their normal along the [001] direction. In this manuscript, we report our study in the cubic Mn$_3$Pt thin films with their kagome planes normal to the [111] crystal axis. Our studies reveal a hole conduction dominant …
Domain wall propagation dynamics have been studied in nanostructured artificial kagome spin ice structures. A stripline circuit has been used to provide localised pulsed magnetic fields within the artificial spin ice structure. This provides control of the system through electrically assisted domain wall nucleation events. Synchronisation of the pulsed fields with additional global magnetic fields and the use of a focussed magneto-optical Kerr effect magnetometer allows our experiments to probe the domain wall transit through an extended ASI structure. We find that the propagation distance dep…
We have studied the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the total magnetic moment of large-area permalloy artificial square spin ice arrays. The temperature dependence and hysteresis behavior are consistent with the coherent magnetization reversal expected in the Stoner-Wohlfarth model, with clear deviations due to inter-island interactions at small lattice spacing. Through micromagnetic simulations, we explore this behavior and demonstrate that the deviations result from increasingly complex magnetization reversal at small lattice spacing, induced by inter-island interactions, and de…
Artificial spin ices are periodic arrangements of interacting nanomagnets successfully used to investigate emergent phenomena in the presence of geometric frustration. Recently, it has been shown that artificial spin ices can be used as building blocks for creating functional materials, such as magnonic crystals, and support a large number of programmable magnetic states. We investigate the magnetization dynamics in a system exhibiting anisotropic magnetostatic interactions owing to locally broken structural inversion symmetry. We find a rich spin-wave spectrum and investigate its evolution in…
Spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR) arises in heavy metal/ferromagnet heterostructures when an alternating charge current is passed through the bilayer stack. The methodology to detect the resonance is based on the anisotropic magnetoresistance, which is the change in the electrical resistance due to different orientations of the magnetization. In connected networks of ferromagnetic nanowires, known as artificial spin ice, the magnetoresistance is rather complex owing to the underlying collective behavior of the geometrically frustrated magnetic domain structure. Here, we demonstrate …
Competing magnetic states in a non-coplanar Kagome magnet
University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）；Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院物理研究所）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；American University of Sharjah（沙迦美国大学）；City University of Hong Kong（香港城市大学）；University of Salerno（萨莱诺大学）；University of Konstanz（康斯坦茨大学）；Department of Materials, University of Oxford（牛津大学材料系）；SPIN-CNR
Artificial spin ice systems have seen burgeoning interest due to their intriguing physics and potential applications in reprogrammable memory, logic and magnonics. Integration of artificial spin ice with functional magnonics is a relatively recent research direction, with a host of promising results. As the field progresses, direct in-depth comparisons of distinct artificial spin systems are crucial to advancing the field. While studies have investigated the effects of different lattice geometries, little comparison exists between systems comprising continuously connected nanostructures, where…
Quantum Hall effect (QHE) is one of the most fruitful research topics in condensed-matter physics. Ordinarily, the QHE manifests in a ground state with time-reversal symmetry broken by magnetization to carry a quantized chiral edge conductivity around a two-dimensional insulating bulk. We propose a theoretical concept and model of non-equilibrium excited-state QHE (EQHE) without intrinsic magnetization. It arises from circularly polarized photoexcitation between two enantiomorphic flat bands of opposite chirality, each supporting originally a helical topological insulating state hosted in a Yi…
