Reducing disorder in artificial kagome ice.
Phys Rev Lett
; 107(16): 167201, 2011 Oct 14.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-22107422
ABSTRACT
Artificial spin ice has become a valuable tool for understanding magnetic interactions on a microscopic level. The strength in the approach lies in the ability of a synthetic array of nanoscale magnets to mimic crystalline materials, composed of atomic magnetic moments. Unfortunately, these nanoscale magnets, patterned from metal alloys, can show substantial variation in relevant quantities such as the coercive field, with deviations up to 16%. By carefully studying the reversal process of artificial kagome ice, we can directly measure the distribution of coercivities, and, by switching from disconnected islands to a connected structure, we find that the coercivity distribution can achieve a deviation of only 3.3%. These narrow deviations should allow the observation of behavior that mimics canonical spin-ice materials more closely.
Search on Google
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Phys Rev Lett
Year:
2011
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States