Repository logo
 

Magnetic monopole density and antiferromagnetic domain control in spin-ice iridates.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Pearce, MJ 
Szabó, A 
Sikkenk, TS 

Abstract

Magnetically frustrated systems provide fertile ground for complex behaviour, including unconventional ground states with emergent symmetries, topological properties, and exotic excitations. A canonical example is the emergence of magnetic-charge-carrying quasiparticles in spin-ice compounds. Despite extensive work, a reliable experimental indicator of the density of these magnetic monopoles is yet to be found. Using measurements on single crystals of Ho2Ir2O7 combined with dipolar Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the isothermal magnetoresistance is highly sensitive to the monopole density. Moreover, we uncover an unexpected and strong coupling between the monopoles on the holmium sublattice and the antiferromagnetically ordered iridium ions. These results pave the way towards a quantitative experimental measure of monopole density and demonstrate the ability to control antiferromagnetic domain walls using a uniform external magnetic field, a key goal in the design of next-generation spintronic devices.

Description

Keywords

cond-mat.str-el, cond-mat.str-el

Journal Title

Nat Commun

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-1723
2041-1723

Volume Title

13

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/K028960/1)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/P034616/1)
EPSRC (EP/T028580/1)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/M007065/1)