We study the diffusion annihilation process which occurs when spin ice is quenched from a high temperature paramagnetic phase deep into the spin ice regime, where the excitations -- magnetic monopoles -- are sparse. We find that due to the Coulomb interaction between the monopoles, a dynamical arrest occurs, in which `non-universal' lattice-scale constraints impede the complete decay of charge fluctuations. This phenomenon is outside the reach of universal mean-field theory for a two-component Coulomb liquid. We identify the relevant timescales for the dynamical arrest and propose an experiment for detecting monopoles and their dynamics in spin ice based on this non-equilibrium phenomenon.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0909.3605,
title = {Thermal quenches in spin ice},
author = {C. Castelnovo and R. Moessner and S. L. Sondhi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0909.3605},
year = {2014}
}