Blackett Laboratory, Department of Physics, Imperial College , Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ.
Sci Rep. 2013;3:1252. doi: 10.1038/srep01252. Epub 2013 Feb 13.
The flow of magnetic charge carriers (dubbed magnetic monopoles) through frustrated spin ice lattices, governed simply by Coulombic forces, represents a new direction in electromagnetism. Artificial spin ice nanoarrays realise this effect at room temperature, where the magnetic charge is carried by domain walls. Control of domain wall path is one important element of utilizing this new medium. By imaging the transit of domain walls across different connected 2D honeycomb structures we contribute an important aspect which will enable that control to be realized. Although apparently equivalent paths are presented to a domain wall as it approaches a Y-shaped vertex from a bar parallel to the field, we observe a stark non-random path distribution, which we attribute to the chirality of the magnetic charges. These observations are supported by detailed statistical modelling and micromagnetic simulations. The identification of chiral control to magnetic charge path selectivity invites analogy with spintronics.
磁荷载流子（称为磁单极子）在受挫自旋冰晶格中的流动，仅受库仑力的控制，代表了电磁学的一个新方向。人工自旋冰纳米阵列在室温下实现了这一效应，其中磁荷由畴壁携带。控制畴壁路径是利用这种新介质的一个重要元素。通过对畴壁穿过不同连接的二维蜂窝状结构的传输进行成像，我们提供了一个重要方面，这将使这种控制得以实现。尽管当一个与磁场平行的棒状畴壁接近 Y 形顶点时，显然有等效的路径，但我们观察到一个明显的非随机路径分布，我们将其归因于磁荷的手征性。这些观察结果得到了详细的统计建模和微磁模拟的支持。对磁荷路径选择性的手征控制的识别邀请了与自旋电子学的类比。
