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Updated: Oct 13, 2025

Optimizing Magnetic Force Microscopy Resolution and Sensitivity to Visualize Nanoscale Magnetic Domains
Published on: July 20, 2022
String Phase in an Artificial Spin Ice
Xiaoyu Zhang1,2,3, Ayhan Duzgun4, Yuyang Lao2,3
1Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA.
Abstract:
One-dimensional strings of local excitations are a fascinating feature of the physical behavior of strongly correlated topological quantum matter. Here we study strings of local excitations in a classical system of interacting nanomagnets, the Santa Fe Ice geometry of artificial spin ice. We measured the moment configuration of the nanomagnets, both after annealing near the ferromagnetic Curie point and in a thermally dynamic state. While the Santa Fe Ice lattice structure is complex, we demonstrate that its disordered magnetic state is naturally described within a framework of emergent strings. We show experimentally that the string length follows a simple Boltzmann distribution with an energy scale that is associated with the system's magnetic interactions and is consistent with theoretical predictions. The results demonstrate that string descriptions and associated topological characteristics are not unique to quantum models but can also provide a simplifying description of complex classical systems with non-trivial frustration.
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