Fig. 1
From: Nanoscale control of competing interactions and geometrical frustration in a dipolar trident lattice
The dipolar trident lattice. a Scanning electron microscope image of a dipolar trident lattice (a = b = 50 nm, L = 450 nm, W = 150 nm). The black scale bar indicates a length of 450 nm. b X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) image resolving moment configurations achieved in the trident lattice. Nanomagnets with a magnetization pointing toward the incoming X-ray propagation vector (indicated by a red arrow) appear dark, while moments opposing that direction appear bright. c Vertex and trident types listed with increasing energy. In both b, c green, yellow, and blue frames highlight the realizations of Type I, Type II, and Type III vertices, respectively. Regarding tridents, Type A and B tridents are highlighted with orange and magenta frames, respectively. d Minimization of dipolar interactions in an isolated trident building block would result in a Type A domination. On the other hand, nearest-neighbor nanomagnets at the four-nanomagnet vertices will prefer a head-to-tail moment alignment, which would result in clockwise or anti-clockwise vortices. e Satisfying vertex interactions (creation of vortices or Type I vertices) results in frustration of trident moments. f Satisfying trident interactions (creation of Type A tridents) results in two of nearest-neighbor vertex moments being aligned head-to-head (red circles) or tail-to-tail (blue circles)
