Ferromagnetic Coulomb phase in classical spin ice

Powell, Stephen

Abstract

Spin ice is a frustrated magnetic system that at low temperatures exhibits a Coulomb phase, a classical spin liquid with topological order and deconfined excitations. This work establishes the presence of a Coulomb phase with coexisting ferromagnetic order in a microscopic model of classical spin ice subject to uniaxial lattice distortion. General theoretical arguments are presented for the presence of such a phase, and its existence is confirmed using Monte Carlo results. This example is used to illustrate generic properties of spin liquids with magnetic order, including deconfinement of monopoles, signatures in the neutron-scattering structure factor, and critical behavior at phase transitions. An analogous phase, a superfluid with spontaneously broken particle–hole symmetry, is demonstrated in a model of hard-core lattice bosons, related to spin ice through the quantum– classical correspondence

Citation

Powell, S. (2015). Ferromagnetic Coulomb phase in classical spin ice. Physical Review B, 91(9), Article 094431. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.094431

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 16, 2015
• Publication Date: Mar 27, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jul 6, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 6, 2016
• Journal: Physical Review B
• Print ISSN: 2469-9950
• Electronic ISSN: 2469-9969
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 91
• Issue: 9
• Article Number: 094431
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.094431
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/746589
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.094431
• Additional Information: Ferromagnetic Coulomb phase in classical spin ice; Stephen Powell; Physical Review B, 91 094431 (2015)
• Contract Date: Jul 6, 2016