Thin films of the spin ice compound Ho2Ti2O7

TL;DR

This paper reports the successful fabrication of high-quality Ho2Ti2O7 thin films that exhibit key features of spin ice behavior, opening pathways for spintronics applications involving magnetic monopoles.

Contribution

It introduces a method to produce crystalline Ho2Ti2O7 thin films that display spin ice characteristics, advancing the potential for device integration.

Findings

Films show high crystalline quality.

Exhibit magnetic anisotropy characteristic of spin ice.

Display magnetization plateau along [111] direction.

Abstract

The pyrochlore compounds Ho2Ti2O7 and Dy2Ti2O7 show an exotic form of magnetism called the spin ice state, resulting from the interplay between geometrical frustration and ferromagnetic coupling. A fascinating feature of this state is the appearance of magnetic monopoles as emergent excitations above the degenerate ground state. Over the past years, strong effort has been devoted to the investigation of these monopoles and other properties of the spin ice state in bulk crystals. A tantalising prospect is to incorporate spin ice materials into devices for spintronics and devices that can manipulate the magnetic monopoles. This would require the availability of spin ice thin films. Here, we report the fabrication of Ho2Ti2O7 thin films using pulsed laser deposition. These films not only show a high crystalline quality, but also exhibit the hallmarks of a spin ice: a pronounced magnetic anisotropy and an intermediate plateau in the magnetisation along the [111] crystal direction.