Articial spin ice structures are two-dimensional systems of lithographically fabricated lattices ofelongated ferromagnetic islands, which interact via dipolar interaction. These systems have beenshown to be a suitable playground to study the magnetic, monopole-like, excitations, similar tothose in three-dimensional rare-earth pyrochlores. Therefore, such articial structures can be potentialmaterials for investigations of magnetricity [1]. The investigations of these articial spin icestructures stretches from the direct imaging of the magnetic congurations among the islands to indirectinvestigation methods allowing to determine the phase transitions occurring in such systems. Inthis project, square articial spin ice arrays were investigated employing magneto-optical Kerr eectfor the measurement of the magnetic susceptibility. The susceptibility dependence on temperaturewas measured at dierent frequencies of the applied AC magnetic eld for arrays of the dierentisland spacing and at two dierent incident light directions with the respect to the direction of theislands. A peak shift of the real part of susceptibility, χ', with increasing frequency towards thehigher temperatures was observed. Furthermore, a rough estimation of the relaxation times of themagnetic moments in the islands is given by the analysis of the susceptibility data.

This thesis reports our study of the effect of domain wall pinning by ferromagnetic (FM) metamaterials [1] in the form of periodic antidot lattices (ADL) on spin wave spectra in the reversible regime. This study was then extended to artificial quasicrystals in the form of Penrose P2 tilings (P2T). Our DC magnetization study of these metamaterials showed reproducible and temperature dependent knee anomalies in the hysteretic regime that are due to the isolated switching of the FM segments. Our dumbbell model analysis [2] of simulated magnetization maps indicates that FM switching in P2T is nonstochastic. We have also acquired the first direct, two-dimensional images of the magnetization of Permalloy films patterned into P2T using scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis (SEMPA). Our SEMPA images demonstrate P2T behave as geometrically frustrated networks of narrow ferromagnetic film segments having near-uniform, bipolar (Ising-like) magnetization, similar to artificial spin ices (ASI). We find the unique aperiodic translational symmetry and diverse vertex coordination of multiply-connected P2T induce a more complex spin-ice behavior driven by exchange interactions in vertex domain walls, which differs markedly from the behavior of disconnected ASI governed only by dipolar interactions.

La frustration est un concept physique qui apparaît lorsque toutes les interactions d'un système ne peuvent être satisfaites en même temps. La glace de spins artificielle est un exemple de système magnétique frustré par la compétition entre interactions dipolaires. Jusqu'ici, les propriétés de ce métamatériau ont été étudiées à l'aide de techniques microscopiques. Ces dernières ne permettent qu'un accès limité à la dynamique du système. Cette dernière pourrait être étudiée par les techniques de diffusion qui ont une meilleure résolution temporelle.La diffusion magnétique résonante des rayons-x mous (SXRMS) est une technique qui a une résolution spatiale comparable avec les tailles standards de la glace de spins artificielle. Le but de cette thèse est de démontrer que cette technique peut apporter des informations intéressantes sur l'organisation magnétique. Elle est organisée en deux parties principales. Tout d'abord, la fabrication d'échantillon est décrite étape par étape. Ensuite, les études de la glace de spins carrée et kagome sont présentées. Des signaux d'origine magnétique ont été enregistré qui apportent une vision de l'organisation magnétique. L'interprétation de ces signaux est complexe à cause de l'espace réciproque. Le dernier chapitre présente une série de mesures utilisant des techniques non-microscopiques sur des systèmes avec des fluctuations magnétiques.Les différentes études présentées montrent que non seulement la glace de spin artificielle peut être étudiée par la diffusion et les autres techniques apportent des informations sur le système. Cette thèse ouvre la voie à des techniques plus avancées comme, dans le domaine des rayons X, l'illumination de l'échantillon avec un faisceau cohérent. Le travail présenté est par conséquent une première étape vers l'étude de la dynamique dans la glace de spins artificielle. / Frustration is a concept in physics which appears when all interactions in a system cannot be satisfied at the same time. Artificial spin ice is an example of a magnetic system that is frustrated by the competition between the dipolar interactions. So far, the properties of this metamaterial has been studied by means of microscopic techniques with the disadvantage of a limited dynamical range. At a time when dimensions of the nanomagnets allow the access to fast dynamics using magnetic fluctuations, the time-resolution of scattering techniques could make them relevant for such studies.Soft x-ray resonant magnetic scattering (SXRMS) is a magnetic-sensitive technique with a resolution compatible with the dimensions of artificial spin ice. The scope of this thesis is to demonstrate that SXRMS can bring relevant information about the magnetic organisation in artificial spin ice. It is organized in two parts. The fabrication of scattering-compatible artificial spin ice samples is described step by step. Then, the studies of both artificial square and kagome spin ice are presented. Signals of magnetic origin have been recorded, bringing insights in the magnetic organization of the system. While most of the studies have been performed on static systems, a small chapter is presenting a serie of studies using non-microscopic techniques which include systems with fluctuating magnetic moments.The different studies performed within this thesis demonstrate that artificial spin ice can not only be studied by microscopy techniques, but that scattering and non-microscopic methods are also relevant. In particular, it opens the way to more advanced experiments such as, in the x-ray domain, the illumination of the system with a coherent beam in order to resolve the nature of the very short magnetic correlations using x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy technique. The presented work is therefore a first step toward the study of dynamics in artificial spin ice.

Magneto-optical materials such as permalloy can be used to create artificial spin- ice (ASI) lattices with antiferromagnetic ordering. Magneto-optical materials used to create diffraction lattices are known to exhibit magnetic scattering at the half- order Bragg peak while in the ground state. The significant drawbacks of studying the magneto-optical generation of OAM using x-rays are cost, time, and access to proper equipment. In this work, it is shown that the possibility of studying OAM and magneto-optical materials in the spectrum of visible light at or around 2 eV is viable. Using spectroscopic ellipsometry it is possible to detect a change in the magnetization of thin permalloy films with thicknesses between 5 and 20 nm. Patterns consistent with OAM were found at 1.95 eV using a square lattice with a 4𝜋 radial phase shift in the antiferromagnetic ground state. Evidence of magnetic scattering at the half-order Bragg peak using 1.95 eV was also found.

Mesoscopic spin systems can be designed and fabricated using modern nano-fabrication techniques. These systems can contain large numbers of patterned ferromagnetic elements, for which the shape will generally determine their effective mesospin dimensionality. The lateral arrangement of these mesospins can be further used to tune the interactions between them. With an appropriate choice of material, it is possible to define a temperature range where thermal fluctuations of these mesospins are experimentally accessible. To actively define this range, we use δ-doped Palladium, a three-layer system of Palladium—Iron—Palladium, for which the Curie-temperature scales with the Iron layer thickness. The patterned mesoscopic elements used in this work have a stadium-like shape that promotes a single magnetic domain state, thus making these islands behave as one-dimensional Ising-like mesospins that can be observed using magnetic imaging techniques. We investigate the impact on the magnetic order resulting from modifications of the square spin ice geometry. By adding, removing and merging elements in the square artificial spin ice architecture, energy-landscape variations can be realized. Firstly, an added interaction modifier is used to equilibrate the interactions between the mesospins at the vertex level, which can restore the degenerate ground state of the square spin ice model. Secondly, the removal of elements can lead to topologically frustrated spin systems, as not all building blocks can simultaneously be in their lowest energy state. Furthermore, the merging results in multiple element sizes in the mesospin system. As the magnetization reversal barrier is dependent on the element size, these mesospin systems have different energy barriers. The thermal ordering process in such a system differs from a single-size element system with its unique energy barrier. Using reciprocal space analysis tools like the magnetic spin structure factor we show that systems with multiple element sizes achieve a higher short-range order then their single-size element references. The magnetic order in mesoscopic spin systems could successfully be tailored by modifications of the lattice geometry.

Uměle vytvořené systémy spinového ledu jsou vhodným nástrojem pro zkoumání neobvyklých jevů, které se v přírodě dají jen těžko pozorovat. Speciálním případem umělého spinového ledu je kagome mřížka, která umožňuje zkoumat kolektivní chování spinů v látce. Tento systém má řadu předpovězených exotických magnetických fází, které zatím nebyly změřeny a prozkoumány v reálném prostoru. V rámci této práce se zabýváme úpravou kagome mřížky tak, aby mohla být využita ke zkoumání exotických stavů v reálném prostoru. Experimenty provedené na naší upravené mřížce ukazují, že jsme schopni detekovat nízko i vysoko energiové stavy, a tedy, že námi navržená úprava kagome mřížky je vhodná pro zkoumání exotických stavů v reálném prostoru.

Umělé spinové systémy jsou vhodným nástrojem pro zkoumání a ovlivňování neobvyklých exotických nízko-energiových stavů přímo v reálném prostoru. Experimentální realizace těchto systémů jsou založeny na výrobě vzájemně interagujících nano-magnetů uspořádaných do požadované geometrie. Prvním a asi i nejvíce studovaným umělým systémem je prostá čtvercová mřížka. V této práci se zabýváme modifikováním této čtvercové geometrie, které umožní zachycení různých magnetických fází založených na modelech ledu. Výsledky ukazují, že vhodným nastaveném této modifikace lze realizovat různé magnetické fáze, včetně neuspořádané spinové kapalné fáze s uvězněnými magnetickými kvazičásticemi (magnetickými monopóly).