Abstract
We model the dynamics of magnetization in an artificial analogue of spin ice specializing to the case of a honeycomb network of connected magnetic nanowires. The inherently dissipative dynamics is mediated by the emission and absorption of domain walls in the sites of the lattice, and their propagation in its links. These domain walls carry two natural units of magnetic charge, whereas sites of the lattice contain a unit magnetic charge. Magnetostatic Coulomb forces between these charges play a major role in the physics of the system, as does quenched disorder caused by imperfections of the lattice. We identify and describe different regimes of magnetization reversal in an applied magnetic field determined by the orientation of the applied field with respect to the initial magnetization. One of the regimes is characterized by magnetic avalanches with a 1/n distribution of lengths.
Highlights
The analogy with granular matter is further reinforced by recent observations of magnetic avalanches in the process of magnetization reversal [18, 22]
We present a model of magnetization dynamics in artificial spin ice subject to an external magnetic field
Magnetization dynamics are mediated by the emission of domain walls carrying two units of magnetic charge from a lattice node, their subsequent propagation through a magnetic element, and absorption at the node
Summary
Our model is specialized to an experimental realization described previously [17]. That artificial spin ice is a connected honeycomb network of permalloy nanowires with saturation magnetization M = 8.6 × 105 A m−1 and the following typical dimensions: length l = 500 nm, width w = 110 nm and thickness t = 23 nm. Three nanowires come together at a vertex in the bulk. At the edge of the lattice, a vertex may have one or two links coming in
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