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Diversity enabling equilibration: disorder and the ground state in artificial spin ice
Zoe Budrikis1, Paolo Politi, R L Stamps
1School of Physics, The University of Western Australia, Australia. zoe.budrikis@gmail.com
Researchers explored achieving ground states in artificial spin ices. They found that randomness, from island response disorder and field sequence variations, lowers the system's final energy, aiding ground state achievement.
Area of Science:
- Condensed matter physics
- Materials science
Background:
- Artificial spin ices are geometrically constrained magnetic systems.
- Achieving the lowest energy state (ground state) is crucial for applications.
- Incomplete frustration in square artificial spin ices presents challenges for ground state access.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate methods for achieving the ground state in square artificial spin ices.
- To identify and analyze sources of randomness affecting ground state attainment.
- To understand the role of disorder and field sequence randomness in energy minimization.
Main Methods:
- Numerical simulations of square artificial spin ice systems.
- Analysis of quenched disorder in island magnetic response.
- Investigation of randomness in the sequence of applied magnetic fields.
- Utilizing a network model to interpret simulation results.
Main Results:
- Quenched disorder in island response can lead to lower energy final states.
- Randomness in the driving field sequence consistently lowers the system's final energy.
- Disorder in island responses opens new dynamical pathways for magnetization reversal.
- Random field sequences enable exploration of a greater number of these pathways.
Conclusions:
- Both quenched disorder and random field sequences are effective strategies to approach the ground state in artificial spin ices.
- The identified sources of randomness provide new insights into controlling magnetic frustration.
- Understanding these mechanisms is key for designing artificial spin ice systems with desired magnetic properties.
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