Multiple energy-scales in vertex-frustrated mesospin systems

TL;DR

This study explores how having one or two activation energies in vertex-frustrated mesospin lattices influences magnetic order, revealing the role of energy hierarchies in collective magnetic states.

Contribution

It provides experimental insights into how multiple activation energies affect magnetic ordering in vertex-frustrated mesospin systems, a novel investigation in artificial ferroic lattices.

Findings

Presence of multiple activation energies alters magnetic correlations.

Different energy hierarchies influence the realization of ground state plaquettes.

Thermally arrested states reflect the underlying energy landscape.

Abstract

The interplay between topology and energy-hierarchy plays a vital role in the collective magnetic order in artificial ferroic systems. Here we investigate, experimentally, the effect of having one or two activation energies of interacting Ising-like magnetic islands -- mesospins -- in thermalized, vertex-frustrated lattices. The thermally arrested magnetic states of the elements were determined using synchrotron-based magnetic microscopy after cooling the samples from temperatures above the Curie temperature of the material. Statistical analysis of the correlations between mesospins across several length-scales, reveals changes in the magnetic order, reflecting the amount of ground state plaquettes realized for a vertex-frustrated lattice. We show that the latter depends on the presence, or not, of different activation energies.