The spin ice compound Dy2Ti2O7 is well-known to realise a three-dimensional Coulomb spin liquid with magnetically charged monopole excitations. Its fate at low temperatures, however, remains an intriguing open question. Based on a low-temperature analysis of the magnetic noise and diffuse neutron scattering under different cooling protocols, combined with extensive numerical modelling, we argue that upon cooling, the spins freeze into what may be termed a `structural magnetic glass', without an a priori need for chemical or structural disorder. Specifically, our model indicates the presence of frustration on two levels, first producing a near-degenerate constrained manifold inside which phase ordering kinetics is in turn frustrated. Our results suggest that spin ice Dy2Ti2O7 provides one prototype of magnetic glass formation specifically, and a setting for the study of kinetically constrained systems more generally.
@article{arxiv.2107.12305,
title = {Structural magnetic glassiness in spin ice Dy$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$},
author = {Anjana M. Samarakoon and Andre Sokolowski and Bastian Klemke and Ralf Feyerherm and Michael Meissner and R. A. Borzi and Feng Ye and Qiang Zhang and Zhiling Dun and Haidong Zhou and T. Egami and Jonathan N. Hallen and Ludovic Jaubert and Claudio Castelnovo and Roderich Moessner and S. A. Grigera and D. Alan Tennant},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2107.12305},
year = {2022}
}