Controlling magnetic charge landscapes in nanostructures: Novel approaches to nanomagnetic writing

Abstract

New tools for the the control and manipulation of magnetic charge landscapes are developed and presented. Scanning probe systems fitted with magnetic tips are used to write 360 degree domain walls, complex topological defects, and entire system-wide microstates in nanomagnetic arrays including artificial spin ice. These new nanomagnetic writing techniques open previously inaccessible regions of the microstate space in artificial spin ice, including states exhibiting negative effective temperatures and the elusive long-range ground state of kagome artificial spin ice.