Toroidal Domain Formation in Artificial Spin Lattices

ORAL

Abstract

Artificial spin ice systems (ASI) are lithographically patterned arrays of interacting nanomagnets that provide a valuable platform for exploring exotic collective states including emergent ferroic orders. Here we investigate a range of artificial spin ice lattices patterned from permalloy using both stadium-shaped and Y-shaped (tripod) nanomagnets [1]. We used both thermal annealing and demagnetization to prepare the arrays in low-energy collective states, which were characterized using magnetic force microscopy. At small lattice constants, we observe the emergence of flux-closure toroidal loop domains [2] as a generic feature of the different lattices, and we explore the coexistence with ferromagnetic and other ordering in these systems.

*The work is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division under Grant No. DE-SC0024940.

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Publication: [1] X. Zhang, I.-A. Chioar, G. Fitez, A. Hurben, M. Saccone, N. S. Bingham, J. Ramberger, C. Leighton, C. Nisoli, and P. Schiffer, Physical Review Letters, 131, 126701 (2023).
[2] W.-C. Yue, Z. Yuan, P. Huang, Y. Sun, T. Gao, Y.-Y. Lu, X. Tu, S. Dong, L. He, Y. Dong, X. Gao, L. Kang, H. Wang, P. Wu, C. Nisoli, and Y.-L. Wang, Nature Nanotechnology, 19, 1101–1107 (2024).

Presenters

  • Ruolun Zhang

    • Princeton University

Authors

  • Ruolun Zhang

    • Princeton University

  • Nanny Henreitta Strandqvist

    • Princeton University

  • Gavin Martin Macauley

    • Princeton University

  • Ioan-Augustin Chioar

    • Yale University
    • University of Maine

  • Nileena Nandakumaran

    • University of Minnesota

  • Cristiano Nisoli

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)

  • Chris Leighton

    • University of Minnesota
    • University of Minnesota Twin Cities

  • Peter Schiffer

    • Princeton University