Ice rule fragility via topological charge transfer in artificial colloidal ice

András Libál, Dong Yun Lee, Antonio Ortiz-Ambriz, Charles Reichhardt, Cynthia J. O. Reichhardt, Pietro Tierno and Cristiano Nisoli ()
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András Libál: Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Dong Yun Lee: Universitat de Barcelona
Antonio Ortiz-Ambriz: Universitat de Barcelona
Charles Reichhardt: Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Cynthia J. O. Reichhardt: Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Pietro Tierno: Universitat de Barcelona
Cristiano Nisoli: Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract 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.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06631-1

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