Artificial Kagome Arrays of Nanomagnets: A Frozen Dipolar Spin Ice

TL;DR

This study investigates magnetic frustration in artificial kagome nanomagnet arrays, demonstrating that long-range dipolar interactions are essential to accurately describe their spin ice behavior, confirmed through microscopy and simulations.

Contribution

The paper shows that the dipolar spin ice model accurately captures the physics of kagome nanomagnet arrays, unlike the short-range model, highlighting the importance of long-range interactions.

Findings

Long-range dipolar interactions are crucial in kagome nanomagnet arrays.

The dipolar spin ice model matches experimental observations.

Short-range models fail to describe the system accurately.

Abstract

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.