Ezio Iacocca, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Energy Science, recently co-authored a publication in Nature Communications, a multidisciplinary journal that highlights research and significant advances in a wide variety of sciences. Iacocca’s group collaborated with experimental groups at Imperial College London (ICL) and the University of Delaware for the piece.
The article, “Ultrastrong magnon-magnon coupling and chiral spin-texture control in a dipolar 3D multilayered artificial spin-vortex ice,” breaks ground as the first to explore magnon coupling layered (3D) artificial spin ices experimentally.
“Artificial spin ices (ASIs) are metamaterials, that is, human-made materials with specific properties,” Iacocca said. “For decades, ASIs have been investigated in two dimensions, where magnetic elements are geometrically placed over a substrate. Here, we have achieved three-dimensional ASIs by investigating stacked magnetic materials in a geometric arrangement. This added degree of freedom unlocked interesting effects such as magnon coupling, a hallmark of strong interactions needed for applications, and chirality control which implies that the states in the system can be manipulated at will with a large yield.”
The article is also the first to use Gænice, an innovative computational model developed at UCCS, in tandem with experiments.
“Gænice is a model for ASIs that relies on a minimal representation of magnetic interactions,” explained Iacocca. “This makes Gænice computationally advantageous to investigate dynamics in ASI. For example, a full numerical simulation of an ASI could take hours or days to run in a graphic processing unit while the same calculation can be done with Gænice on a personal laptop in a matter of seconds.”
As Iacocca was working with ICL during Gænice’s development, the researchers were able to create a positive feedback loop and iterative process to benefit both groups by using the model with ICL’s experimental data. The partnership has allowed for better understanding of ICL’s data and for continuous improvement of Gænice.
“The group at ICL has done very impressive work in utilizing ASIs for unconventional computing,” Iacocca said. “They have demonstrated that ferromagnetic resonance of ASIs could be used for ‘reservoir computing,’ a method of computation that performs better than traditional processors in certain tasks that require complexity. The investigation of dynamics in ASI was closely related to the theoretical research in our group, so it was natural to establish a collaboration.”
As this is just the beginning of utilizing Gænice, the model is expected to help experiments and simulations to develop new geometries in the future.
“One of our goals was to make this code significant for the community, and applying it to experimental data is part of it,” noted Iacocca. “We are continuing to use Gænice to explore 3D geometries, topological edge modes, and non-Hermitian behavior, all of which could be useful for microwave devices.”
Learn more about Iacocca’s research and read “Ultrastrong magnon-magnon coupling and chiral spin-texture control in a dipolar 3D multilayered artificial spin-vortex ice” online. Research for this initiative at UCCS was supported by the National Science Foundation.
About Prof. Iacocca’s Group
Prof. Iacocca’s group is dedicated to the theoretical, analytical, and numerical investigation of magnetization dynamics at the nanoscale. Their research spans from the ultrafast regimes to the dispersion of spin waves in metamaterials. A goal of the group is to gain fundamental understanding of non-equilibrium and nonlinear magnetization dynamics towards new information technologies. Learn more about Iacocca’s group online.
About the UCCS Department of Physics and Energy Science
The Department of Physics and Energy Science at UCCS is devoted to excellence in both teaching and research. The department offers bachelor, master, as well as doctoral degree options. The department conducts a broad range of experimental and theoretical research in the areas of Solid State and Quantum Physics, Magnetism, Nanotechnology, Liquid Crystals, and Bio-Physics. Physics students have a unique opportunity to access state-of-the-art research labs with valuable equipment. Learn more about the Department of Physics and Energy Science at UCCS.