Emergent charge crystallization and frustration in a particle anti-spin Ice

Emergent charge crystallization and frustration in a particle anti-spin Ice | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Emergent charge crystallization and frustration in a particle anti-spin Ice Pietro Tierno, Renaud Baillou, Matthew Terkel, Cristiano Nisoli This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9266194/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Artificial spin ices have transcended their origins in frustrated rare-earth pyrochlores to become a versatile platform for engineering exotic states of matter. Across diverse implementations, from nanomagnets and superconducting vortices to colloids, quantum annealers, liquid crystals, and metamaterials, they are unified by the ice rule, which often leads to degeneracy and constrained disorder by enforcing minimization of the local topological charge. Here, we report the first realization of an “anti-spin ice” in which not only the ice rule does not hold, but its opposite is true as the system seeks to maximize, rather than minimize, spin ice charges. Using fast-rotating, in-plane magnetic fields to generate isotropic attraction between colloidal particles, we invert the conventional paradigm of repulsive interactions in colloidal spin ices. Combining experiments and simulations across standard square and honeycomb lattices as well as novel pentaheptite geometries, we establish rules for order and disorder in the anti-spin ice. With the pentaheptite lattice, we demonstrate that the anti-spin ice system can also exhibit frustration, but of a new kind. This topological charge frustration arises from the lattice connectivity, where networks of unequal, odd-sided polygons suppress charge crystallization at high interaction strength. Physical sciences/Physics/Condensed-matter physics/Magnetic properties and materials Physical sciences/Materials science/Soft materials/Colloids Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryVideo2.mov Supplementary Video 2 SupplementaryVideo5.mov Supplementary Video 5 SupplementaryVideo3.mov Supplementary Video 3 SupplementaryVideo4.mov Supplementary Video 4 SupplementaryVideo1.mov Supplementary Video 1 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9266194","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":623872374,"identity":"11669e88-95e1-47e5-90f7-4d489ff8e22f","order_by":0,"name":"Pietro 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