arXiv subjects

Santiago A. Grigera

Publications and source records attributed to Santiago A. Grigera.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Perfectly hidden order and Z2 confinement transition in a fully packed monopole liquid

We investigate a variant of spin ice whose degenerate ground states are densely packed monopole configurations. An applied field drives this model through a Z2 confinement transition. This phase change is a variant of the U(1) Kasteleyn transition, but instead of saturated order the system has fluctuations in the confined phase, and shows critical scaling on both sides of the transition. Remarkably, the magnetic response scales with the critical exponent of the specific heat in the 3D Ising universality class. We prove this universality using a Kramers--Wannier duality to map to an Ising model. The dual order parameter maps back to a non-local string order parameter in the original model, invisible to any local probe. Further, we describe the transition in terms of a bosonic field theory including a pairing term.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Dynamical fractal and anomalous noise in a clean magnetic crystal

Fractals -- objects with non-integer dimensions -- occur in manifold settings and length scales in nature, ranging from snowflakes and lightning strikes to natural coastlines. Much effort has been expended to generate fractals for use in many-body physics. Here, we identify an emergent dynamical fractal in a disorder-free, stoichiometric three-dimensional magnetic crystal in thermodynamic equilibrium. The phenomenon is born from constraints on the dynamics of the magnetic monopole excitations in spin ice, which restrict them to move on the fractal. This observation explains the anomalous exponent found in magnetic noise experiments in the spin ice compound Dy$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$, and it resolves a long standing puzzle about its rapidly diverging relaxation time. The capacity of spin ice to exhibit such striking phenomena holds promise of further surprising discoveries in the cooperative dynamics of even simple topological many-body systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Machine Learning Assisted Insight to Spin Ice Dy$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$

Complex behavior poses challenges in extracting models from experiment. An example is spin liquid formation in frustrated magnets like Dy$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$. Understanding has been hindered by issues including disorder, glass formation, and interpretation of scattering data. Here, we use a novel automated capability to extract model Hamiltonians from data, and to identify different magnetic regimes. This involves training an autoencoder to learn a compressed representation of three-dimensional diffuse scattering, over a wide range of spin Hamiltonians. The autoencoder finds optimal matches according to scattering and heat capacity data and provides confidence intervals. Validation tests indicate that our optimal Hamiltonian accurately predicts temperature and field dependence of both magnetic structure and magnetization, as well as glass formation and irreversibility in Dy$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$. The autoencoder can also categorize different magnetic behaviors and eliminate background noise and artifacts in raw data. Our methodology is readily applicable to other materials and types of scattering problems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Anomalous out-of-equilibrium dynamics in the spin-ice material Dy$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ under moderate magnetic fields

We study experimentally and numerically the dynamics of the spin ice material Dy$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ in the low temperature ($T$) and moderate magnetic field ($\mathbf{B}$) regime ($T\in[0.1,1.7]K$, $B\in[0,0.3]T$). Our objective is to understand the main physics shaping the out-of-equilibrium magnetisation vs. temperature curves in two different regimes. Very far from equilibrium, turning on the magnetic field after having cooled the system in zero field (ZFC) can increase the concentration of magnetic monopoles; this accelerates the dynamics. Similarly to electrolytes, this occurs through dissociation of bound monopole pairs. However, for spin ices the polarisation of the vacuum out of which the monopole pairs are created is a key factor shaping the magnetisation curves, with no analog. We observe a threshold field near $0.2T$ for this fast dynamics to take place, linked to the maximum magnetic force between the attracting pairs. Surprisingly, within a regime of low temperatures and moderate fields, an extended Ohm's law can be used to describe the ZFC magnetisation curve obtained with the dipolar spin-ice model. However, in real samples the acceleration of the dynamics appears even sharper than in simulations, possibly due to the presence of avalanches. On the other hand, the effect of the field nearer equilibrium can be just the opposite to that at very low temperatures. Single crystals, as noted before for powders, abandon equilibrium at a blocking temperature $T_B$ which increases with field. Curiously, this behaviour is present in numerical simulations even within the nearest-neighbours interactions model. Simulations and experiments show that the increasing trend in $T_B$ is stronger for $\mathbf{B}\parallel[100]$. This suggests that the field plays a part in the dynamical arrest through monopole suppression, which is quite manifest for this field orientation.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Field-tuned order by disorder in Ising frustrated magnets with antiferromagnetic interactions

We demonstrate the appearance of thermal order by disorder in Ising pyrochlores with staggered antiferromagnetic order frustrated by an applied magnetic field. We use a mean-field cluster variational method, a low-temperature expansion and Monte Carlo simulations to characterise the order-by-disorder transition. By direct evaluation of the density of states we quantitatively show how a symmetry-broken state is selected by thermal excitations. We discuss the relevance of our results to experiments in $2d$ and $3d$ samples, and evaluate how anomalous finite-size effects could be exploited to detect this phenomenon experimentally in two-dimensional artificial systems, or in antiferromagnetic all-in--all-out pyrochlores like Nd$_2$Hf$_2$O$_7$ or Nd$_2$Zr$_2$O$_7$, for the first time.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2014

Monopole ordered phases in dipolar and nearest-neighbours Ising pyrochlore: from spin ice to the "all-in--all-out" antiferromagnet

We study Ising pyrochlores by means of Monte Carlo simulations. We cover a set of exchange constants ranging from the frustrated ferromagnetic case (spin-ice) to the fully-ordered "all-in--all-out" antiferromagnet in the dipolar model, reinterpreting the results --as in an ionic system-- in terms of a temperature vs. magnetic charge density phase diagram. In spite of its spin nature and the presence of both double and single non-conserved magnetic charges, the dipolar model gives place to a phase diagram which is quite comparable with those previously obtained for on-lattice systems of electric charges, and on spin ice models with conserved number of single magnetic charges. The contrast between these systems, to which we add results from the nearest-neighbours model, put forward other features of our phase diagram --notably, a monopole fluid with charge order at high monopole densities that persists up to arbitrarily high temperatures-- that can only be explained taking into account construction constraints forced by the underlying spin degrees of freedom.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗