arXiv subjects

Cynthia J. O. Reichhardt

Publications and source records attributed to Cynthia J. O. Reichhardt.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Planar Interfaces for Transmission of Chiral Spin Textures

Lateral magnetic interfaces provide a direct way to test whether skyrmions remain robust when driven across abrupt changes in material parameters and magnetic order. Here we study skyrmion transmission across planar ferromagnet-ferromagnet (FM-FM), antiferromagnet-antiferromagnet (AFM-AFM), ferromagnet-antiferromagnet (FM-AFM), and antiferromagnet-ferromagnet (AFM-FM) interfaces using micromagnetic simulations and analytic reduced-coordinate criteria. The outcomes are organized into phase diagrams according to the morphology formed in the receiving region, distinguishing compact transmission from deformed skyrmions, stripe-domain states, amorphous textures, and relaxation into the background. Same-order FM-FM and AFM-AFM skyrmion transmission is captured by an analytically defined range of the reduced Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, identifying the wall-softening regime that supports compact transmission without stripe formation. Mixed-order FM-AFM and AFM-FM interfaces are directionally distinct, requiring conversion between ferromagnetic magnetization and antiferromagnetic Néel textures. These results show that planar interfaces act as active transport elements and provide reduced design criteria for heterogeneous skyrmion tracks.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Diffusion asymmetry of repulsive skyrmions in structured environment

The diffusion of matter in structured environments can give rise to emergent phenomena that do not occur in unstructured environments. Here, we report the asymmetric diffusion of magnetic skyrmions in structured chambers, where repulsive skyrmion-skyrmion and skyrmion-environment interactions play vital roles in their diffusive behavior. By fabricating an off-center asymmetric gate separating two chambers, skyrmions could demonstrate asymmetric diffusion through the gate, which depends on the gate symmetry, the gate opening width, and the skyrmion density. Although the diffusion is affected by the skyrmion density, the simulation outcomes are generally in line with rate equation solutions assuming time-independent diffusion rates. Diffusive skyrmions within the chamber can transiently form bonds through repulsive skyrmion-skyrmion interactions, leading to emergent rotational dynamics that is unique to interacting skyrmion systems. Our results uncover asymmetric diffusive behavior of skyrmions, offering insights that will appeal to the wide audience interested in magnetism, active matter, and statistical physics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Janus skyrmion: Interfacial quasiparticle with two-faced helicity

Janus particles are functional particles with at least two surfaces showing asymmetric properties. We show at the interface between two magnetic regions with different antisymmetric exchange interactions, an alternative species of two-dimensional topological quasiparticles can emerge, in which different helicity structures can coexist. We name such an interfacial quasiparticle a "Janus skyrmion," in analogy to the Janus particle. As the Janus skyrmion shows helicity asymmetry, its size could vary with both the in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic fields. A vertical spin current could drive the Janus skyrmion into one-dimensional motion along the interface without showing the skyrmion Hall effect, at a speed which depends on both the in-plane spin-polarization direction and current density. Thermal fluctuations could also lead to one-dimensional random walk of a Brownian Janus skyrmion. This work uncovers unique dynamics intrinsic to interfacial quasiparticles with exotic helicity, which may be realized in interface-engineered magnetic layers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Visualizing the strongly reshaped skyrmion Hall effect in multilayer wire devices

Magnetic skyrmions are nanoscale spin textures touted as next-generation computing elements. When subjected to lateral currents, skyrmions move at considerable speeds. Their topological charge results in an additional transverse deflection known as the skyrmion Hall effect (SkHE). While promising, their dynamic phenomenology with current, skyrmion size, geometric effects and disorder remain to be established. Here we report on the ensemble dynamics of individual skyrmions forming dense arrays in Pt/Co/MgO wires by examining over 20,000 instances of motion across currents and fields. The skyrmion speed reaches 24 m/s in the plastic flow regime and is surprisingly robust to positional and size variations. Meanwhile, the SkHE saturates at $\sim 22^\circ$, is substantially reshaped by the wire edge, and crucially increases weakly with skyrmion size. Particle model simulations suggest that the SkHE size dependence - contrary to analytical predictions - arises from the interplay of intrinsic and pinning-driven effects. These results establish a robust framework to harness SkHE and achieve high-throughput skyrmion motion in wire devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Ice Rule and Emergent Frustration in Particle Ice and Beyond

Geometric frustration and the ice rule are two concepts that are intimately connected and widespread across condensed matter. The first refers to the inability of a system to satisfy competing interactions in the presence of spatial constraints. The second, in its more general sense, represents a prescription for the minimization of the topological charges in a constrained system. Both can lead to manifolds of high susceptibility and non-trivial, constrained disorder where exotic behaviors can appear and even be designed deliberately. In this Colloquium, we describe the emergence of geometric frustration and the ice rule in soft condensed matter. This Review excludes the extensive developments of mathematical physics within the field of geometric frustration, but rather focuses on systems of confined micro- or mesoscopic particles that emerge as a novel paradigm exhibiting spin degrees of freedom. In such systems, geometric frustration can be engineered artificially by controlling the spatial topology and geometry of the lattice, the position of the individual particle units, or their relative filling fraction. These capabilities enable the creation of novel and exotic phases of matter, and also potentially lead towards technological applications related to memory and logic devices that are based on the motion of topological defects. We review the rapid progress in theory and experiments and discuss the intimate physical connections with other frustrated systems at different length scales.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2018

Ice Rule Fragility via Topological Charge Transfer in Artificial Colloidal Ice

Artificial particle ices are model systems of constrained, interacting particles. They have been introduced theoretically to study ice-manifolds emergent from frustration, along with domain wall and grain boundary dynamics, doping, pinning-depinning, controlled transport of topological defects, avalanches, and memory effects. Recently such particle-based ices have been experimentally realized with vortices in nano-patterned superconductors or gravitationally trapped colloids. Here we demonstrate that, although these ices are generally considered equivalent to magnetic spin ices, they can access a novel spectrum of phenomenologies that are inaccessible to the latter. With experiments, theory and simulations we demonstrate that in mixed coordination geometries, entropy-driven negative monopoles spontaneously appear at a density determined by the vertex-mixture ratio. Unlike its spin-based analogue, the colloidal system displays a "fragile ice" manifold, where local energetics oppose the ice rule, which is instead enforced through conservation of the global topological charge. The fragile colloidal ice, stabilized by topology, can be spontaneously broken by topological charge transfer.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗