RESUMO
We study the collective behavior of interacting arrays of nanomagnetic tripods. These objects have six discrete moment states, in contrast to the usual two states of an Ising-like moment. Our experimental data demonstrate that triangular lattice arrays form a "tripod ice" that exhibits charge ordering among the effective vertex magnetic charges, in direct analogy to artificial kagome spin ice. The results indicate that the interacting tripods have effective moments that act as emergent local variables, with strong connections to the well-studied Potts and clock models. In addition, the tripod moments display a tendency toward a nearest neighbor alignment in our thermalized samples that separates this system from kagome spin ice. Our results open a path toward the study of the collective behavior of nonbinary moments that is unavailable in other physical systems.
RESUMO
Ergodic kinetics, which are critical to equilibrium thermodynamics, can be constrained by a system's topology. We studied a model nanomagnetic array in which such constraints visibly affect the behavior of the magnetic moments. In this system, magnetic excitations connect into thermally active one-dimensional strings whose motion can be imaged in real time. At high temperatures, our data showed the merging, breaking, and reconnecting of strings, resulting in the system transitioning between topologically distinct configurations. Below a crossover temperature, the string motion is dominated by simple changes in length and shape. In this low-temperature regime, the system is energetically stable because of its inability to explore all possible topological configurations. This kinetic crossover suggests a generalizable conception of topologically broken ergodicity and limited equilibration.
