Speaker
Description
Two-dimensional XY spin systems have interesting thermodynamic phase diagrams that so far have been mainly explored theoretically. Thermally-active artificial spin systems provide the opportunity to study the phase transitions and thermal behaviour of experimentally difficult to realize two-dimensional spin systems. Here, we experimentally investigate the artificial XY system of lithographically patterned dipolar-coupled nanomagnets arranged on a two-dimensional lattice. Due to their circular shape, the nanomagnets support a single-domain state that can be viewed as macrospins with continuous planar spin degrees of freedom. Employing resonant soft x-ray scattering we characterize the spatial correlations in these artificial XY spin systems and track the temperature-dependent evolution of the magnetic diffuse scattering.
