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Title: Entropy-driven order in an array of nanomagnets

Abstract

Long-range ordering is typically associated with a decrease in entropy. Yet, it can also be driven by increasing entropy in certain special cases. Here we demonstrate that artificial spin-ice arrays of single-domain nanomagnets can be designed to produce such entropy-driven order. We focus on the tetris artificial spin-ice structure, a highly frustrated array geometry with a zero-point Pauling entropy, which is formed by selectively creating regular vacancies on the canonical square ice lattice. We probe thermally active tetris artificial spin ice both experimentally and through simulations, measuring the magnetic moments of the individual nanomagnets. Furthermore, we find two-dimensional magnetic ordering in one subset of these moments, which we demonstrate to be induced by disorder (that is, increased entropy) in another subset of the moments. In contrast with other entropy-driven systems, the discrete degrees of freedom in tetris artificial spin ice are binary and are both designable and directly observable at the microscale, and the entropy of the system is precisely calculable in simulations. This example, in which the system’s interactions and ground-state entropy are well defined, expands the experimental landscape for the study of entropy-driven ordering.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6];  [6];  [7]; ORCiD logo [8]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [9]
  1. Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)
  2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  3. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
  4. Seagate Technology, Shakopee, MN (United States); Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
  5. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); Wayne State Univ., Detroit, MI (United States)
  6. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
  7. Univ. of Liverpool (United Kingdom)
  8. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  9. Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States); Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1868311
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-22-21456
Journal ID: ISSN 1745-2473
Grant/Contract Number:  
89233218CNA000001; SC0010778; SC0020162; AC02-05CH11231; DMR-1807124; DMR-2103711
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 18; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 1745-2473
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group (NPG)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; Material Science; Magnetic properties and materials; Phase transitions and critical phenomena

Citation Formats

Saglam, Hilal, Duzgun, Ayhan, Kargioti, Aikaterini, Harle, Nikhil, Zhang, Xiaoyu, Bingham, Nicholas S., Lao, Yuyang, Gilbert, Ian, Sklenar, Joseph, Watts, Justin D., Ramberger, Justin, Bromley, Daniel, Chopdekar, Rajesh V., O’Brien, Liam, Leighton, Chris, Nisoli, Cristiano, and Schiffer, Peter. Entropy-driven order in an array of nanomagnets. United States: N. p., 2022. Web. doi:10.1038/s41567-022-01555-6.
Saglam, Hilal, Duzgun, Ayhan, Kargioti, Aikaterini, Harle, Nikhil, Zhang, Xiaoyu, Bingham, Nicholas S., Lao, Yuyang, Gilbert, Ian, Sklenar, Joseph, Watts, Justin D., Ramberger, Justin, Bromley, Daniel, Chopdekar, Rajesh V., O’Brien, Liam, Leighton, Chris, Nisoli, Cristiano, & Schiffer, Peter. Entropy-driven order in an array of nanomagnets. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01555-6
Saglam, Hilal, Duzgun, Ayhan, Kargioti, Aikaterini, Harle, Nikhil, Zhang, Xiaoyu, Bingham, Nicholas S., Lao, Yuyang, Gilbert, Ian, Sklenar, Joseph, Watts, Justin D., Ramberger, Justin, Bromley, Daniel, Chopdekar, Rajesh V., O’Brien, Liam, Leighton, Chris, Nisoli, Cristiano, and Schiffer, Peter. Thu . "Entropy-driven order in an array of nanomagnets". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01555-6. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1868311.
@article{osti_1868311,
title = {Entropy-driven order in an array of nanomagnets},
author = {Saglam, Hilal and Duzgun, Ayhan and Kargioti, Aikaterini and Harle, Nikhil and Zhang, Xiaoyu and Bingham, Nicholas S. and Lao, Yuyang and Gilbert, Ian and Sklenar, Joseph and Watts, Justin D. and Ramberger, Justin and Bromley, Daniel and Chopdekar, Rajesh V. and O’Brien, Liam and Leighton, Chris and Nisoli, Cristiano and Schiffer, Peter},
abstractNote = {Long-range ordering is typically associated with a decrease in entropy. Yet, it can also be driven by increasing entropy in certain special cases. Here we demonstrate that artificial spin-ice arrays of single-domain nanomagnets can be designed to produce such entropy-driven order. We focus on the tetris artificial spin-ice structure, a highly frustrated array geometry with a zero-point Pauling entropy, which is formed by selectively creating regular vacancies on the canonical square ice lattice. We probe thermally active tetris artificial spin ice both experimentally and through simulations, measuring the magnetic moments of the individual nanomagnets. Furthermore, we find two-dimensional magnetic ordering in one subset of these moments, which we demonstrate to be induced by disorder (that is, increased entropy) in another subset of the moments. In contrast with other entropy-driven systems, the discrete degrees of freedom in tetris artificial spin ice are binary and are both designable and directly observable at the microscale, and the entropy of the system is precisely calculable in simulations. This example, in which the system’s interactions and ground-state entropy are well defined, expands the experimental landscape for the study of entropy-driven ordering.},
doi = {10.1038/s41567-022-01555-6},
journal = {Nature Physics},
number = 6,
volume = 18,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Apr 07 00:00:00 EDT 2022},
month = {Thu Apr 07 00:00:00 EDT 2022}
}

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