Structural magnetic glassiness in spin ice Dy_2Ti_2O_7

ANJANA M. SAMARAKOON; ANDRE SOKOLOWSKI; BASTIAN KLEMKE; RALF FEYERHERM; MICHAEL MEISSNER; R. A. BORZI; FENG YE; QIANG ZHANG; ZHILING DUN; HAIDONG ZHOU; T. EGAMI; L. JAUBERT; C. CASTELNOVO; R. MOESSNER; A. GRIGERA, S.; A. TENNANT

Physical Review Research

American Physical Society

Año: 2022 vol. 4

The spin ice compound Dy2Ti2O7 is well-known to realise a three-dimensional Coulomb spinliquid with magnetically charged monopole excitations. Its fate at low temperatures, however,remains an intriguing open question. Based on a low-temperature analysis of the magnetic noiseand diffuse neutron scattering under different cooling protocols, combined with extensive numericalmodelling, we argue that upon cooling, the spins freeze into what may be termed a ‘structuralmagnetic glass’, without an a priori need for chemical or structural disorder. Specifically, our modelindicates the presence of frustration on two levels, first producing a near-degenerate constrainedmanifold inside which phase ordering kinetics is in turn frustrated. Our results suggest that spinice Dy2Ti2O7 provides one prototype of magnetic glass formation specifically, and a setting for thestudy of kinetically constrained systems more generally.