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Title: Ice rule fragility via topological charge transfer in artificial colloidal ice

Journal Article · · Nature Communications

Artificial particle ices are model systems of constrained, interacting particles. They have been introduced theoretically to study ice-manifolds emergent from frustration, along with domain wall and grain boundary dynamics, doping, pinning-depinning, controlled transport of topological defects, avalanches, and memory effects. Recently such particle-based ices have been experimentally realized with vortices in nano-patterned superconductors or gravitationally trapped colloids. Here we demonstrate that, although these ices are generally considered equivalent to magnetic spin ices, they can access a novel spectrum of phenomenologies that are inaccessible to the latter. With experiments, theory and simulations we demonstrate that in mixed coordination geometries, entropy-driven negative monopoles spontaneously appear at a density determined by the vertex-mixture ratio. Unlike its spin-based analogue, the colloidal system displays a “fragile ice” manifold, where local energetics oppose the ice rule, which is instead enforced through conservation of the global topological charge. The fragile colloidal ice, stabilized by topology, can be spontaneously broken by topological charge transfer.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
Sponsoring Organization:
Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1479943
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-18-29641
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 9; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (5)

Orientational and directional locking of colloidal clusters driven across periodic surfaces journal May 2019
Advances in artificial spin ice journal November 2019
On the micromagnetic behavior of dipolar-coupled nanomagnets in defective square artificial spin ice systems journal December 2019
Competing orders in colloidal kagome ice: Importance of the in-trap motion of the particles journal April 2019
Colloquium : Ice rule and emergent frustration in particle ice and beyond journal December 2019