Size distribution of magnetic charge domains in thermally activated but out-of-equilibrium artificial spin ice

F. Montaigne (1) , D. Lacour (1) , Ioan-Augustin Chioar (2) , Nicolas Rougemaille (3) , D. Louis (1) , S. Mc Murtry (1) , H. Riahi (1) , B. Santos Burgos (4) , T. O. Mentes (4) , A. Locatelli (4) , Benjamin Canals (2) , M. Hehn (1)

1 IJL - Institut Jean Lamour
2 NEEL - TMC - Théorie de la Matière Condensée
3 NEEL - MNM - Micro et NanoMagnétisme
4 Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste

A crystal of emerging magnetic charges is expected in the phase diagram of the dipolar kagome spin ice. An observation of charge crystallites in thermally demagnetized artificial spin ice arrays has been recently reported by S. Zhang and coworkers and explained through the thermodynamics of the system as it approaches a charge-ordered state. Following a similar approach, we have generated a partial order of magnetic charges in an artificial kagome spin ice lattice made out of ferrimagnetic material having a Curie temperature of 475 K. A statistical study of the size of the charge domains reveals an unconventional sawtooth distribution. This distribution is in disagreement with the predictions of the thermodynamic model and is shown to be a signature of the kinetic process governing the remagnetization.

Domaines: Matière Condensée [cond-mat]; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

F. Montaigne, D. Lacour, Ioan-Augustin Chioar, Nicolas Rougemaille, D. Louis, et al.. Size distribution of magnetic charge domains in thermally activated but out-of-equilibrium artificial spin ice. Scientific Reports, 2014, 4, pp.5702. ⟨10.1038/srep05702⟩. ⟨hal-01159660⟩