Tunable and switchable magnetic dipole patterns in nanostructured superconductors.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29968732.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-05045-3 and PMC identifier 6030140.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Design and manipulation of magnetic moment arrays have been at the focus of studying the interesting cooperative physical phenomena in various magnetic systems. However, long-range ordered magnetic moments are rather difficult to achieve due to the excited states arising from the relatively weak exchange interactions between the localized moments. Here, using a nanostructured superconductor, we investigate a perfectly ordered magnetic dipole pattern with the magnetic poles having the same distribution as the magnetic charges in an artificial spin ice. The magnetic states can simply be switched on/off by applying a current flowing through nanopatterned area. Moreover, by coupling magnetic dipoles with the pinned vortex lattice, we are able to erase the positive/negative poles, resulting in a magnetic dipole pattern of only one polarity, analogous to the recently predicted vortex ice. These switchable and tunable magnetic dipole patterns open pathways for the study of exotic ordering phenomena in magnetic systems.