2011/12/16 by Z. L. Budrikis, Zoe Budrikis, K. L. Livesey +10 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Condensed matter physics #Domain (mathematical analysis) #Ferroelectricity #Geometry #Magnetic monopole #Mean field theory #Monte Carlo method #Physics #Quantum many-body systems #Quantum mechanics #Spin (aerodynamics) #Spin ice #Square (algebra) #Statistical physics #Theoretical and Computational Physics #Thermal fluctuations #Thermodynamics #Vertex (graph theory) #cond-mat.dis-nn #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/14/3/035014
published as New J. Phys. 14 035014 (2012) · 20 pages, 12 figures. Submitted to New Journal of Physics
arxiv created 2011/12/16 · openalex publication_date 2012/03/20 · arxiv updated 2012/07/19 · openalex created_date 2020/11/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The thermally driven formation and evolution of vertex domains is studied for square artificial spin ice. A self-consistent mean-field theory is used to show how domains of ground state ordering form spontaneously, and how these evolve in the presence of disorder. The role of fluctuations is studied using Monte Carlo simulations and analytical modelling. Domain wall dynamics are shown to be driven by a biasing of random fluctuations towards processes that shrink closed domains, and fluctuations within domains are shown to generate isolated small excitations, which may stabilize as the effective temperature is lowered. Domain dynamics and fluctuations are determined by interaction strengths, which are controlled by inter-element spacing. The role of interaction strength is studied via experiments and Monte Carlo simulations. Our mean-field model is applicable to ferroelectric 'spin' ice, and we show that features similar to those of magnetic spin ice can be expected, but with different characteristic temperatures and rates.