Continuous magnetic phase transition in artificial square ice

Sendetskyi, Oles; Scagnoli, Valerio; Leo, Naëmi; Anghinolfi, Luca; Alberca, Aurora; Lüning, Jan; Staub, Urs; Derlet, Peter Michael; Heyderman, Laura Jane

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.99.214430

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Journal article

Continuous magnetic phase transition in artificial square ice

Sendetskyi, Oles Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Switzerland - Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Experiments, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
Scagnoli, Valerio Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Switzerland - Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Experiments, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
Leo, Naëmi Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Switzerland - Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Experiments, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
Anghinolfi, Luca Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Switzerland - Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Experiments, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, Switzerland - Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
Alberca, Aurora Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, Switzerland - Department of Physics and Fribourg Centre for Nanomaterials, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Lüning, Jan Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Paris, France - CNRS, UMR 7614, LCPMR, 75005 Paris, France
Staub, Urs Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
Derlet, Peter Michael Condensed Matter Theory Group, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
Heyderman, Laura Jane Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Switzerland - Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Experiments, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, Switzerland

20.06.2019

Published in:

Physical Review B. - 2019, vol. 99, no. 21, p. 214430

English Critical behavior is very common in many fields of science and a wide variety of many- body systems exhibit emergent critical phenomena. The beauty of critical phase transitions lies in their scale-free properties, such that the temperature dependence of physical parameters of systems differing at the microscopic scale can be described by the same generic power laws. In this work we establish the critical properties of the antiferromagnetic phase transition in artificial square ice, showing that it belongs to the two-dimensional Ising universality class, which extends the applicability of such concepts from atomistic to mesoscopic magnets. Combining soft x-ray resonant magnetic scattering experiments and Monte Carlo simulations, we characterize the transition to the low-temperature long-range order expected for the artificial square-ice system. By measuring the critical scattering, we provide direct quantitative evidence of a continuous magnetic phase transition, obtaining critical exponents which are compatible with those of the two-dimensional Ising universality class. In addition, by varying the blocking temperature relative to the phase transition temperature, we demonstrate its influence on the out-of-equilibrium dynamics due to critical slowing down at the phase transition.

Faculty

Faculté des sciences et de médecine

Department

Département de Physique

Language