2006/04/30 by Gunnar Moller, R. Moessner · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.96.237202
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 237202 (2006) · 4 pages, 4 figures; v2: minor modifications in typesetting, figures 1 and 3 updated
arxiv created 2006/06/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
We study a frustrated dipolar array recently manufactured lithographically by Wang \em et al. [Nature \bf 439, 303 (2006)] in order to realize the square ice model in an artificial structure. We discuss models for thermodynamics and dynamics of this system. We show that an ice regime can be stabilized by small changes in the array geometry; a different magnetic state, kagome ice, can similarly be constructed. At low temperatures, the square ice regime is terminated by a thermodynamic ordering transition, which can be chosen to be ferro- or antiferromagnetic. We show that the arrays do not fully equilibrate experimentally, and identify a likely dynamical bottleneck.