Dynamics and Structural Transition in Santa Fe Artificial Spin Ice

Artificial spin ice arrays of frustrated nanomagnets offer unusual opportunities for the design and study of collective magnetic phenomena. In particular, the kinetic mechanisms in which these interacting nanomagnets attempt to find equilibrium is of considerable interest. We investigate the dynamics of artificial spin ice with the Santa Fe lattice, a vertex frustrated system previously shown to be described by a set of emergent strings featuring a topological crossover. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we study the kinetics of these strings as the collective magnetic moment configuration undergoes a transition between the previously seen disordered string state to a long-range ordered state. These findings offer insight into the mechanisms of how these systems explore their phase space, providing valuable information for future studies in artificial spin ice and other highly frustrated systems.