Field and Current Control of the Electrical Conductivity of an Artificial 2D Honeycomb Lattice.

The conductivity of a neodymium-based artificial honeycomb lattice undergoes dramatic changes upon application of magnetic fields and currents. These changes are attributed to a redistribution of magnetic charges that are formed at the vertices of the honeycomb due to the nonvanishing net flux of magnetization from adjacent magnetic elements. It is suggested that the application of a large magnetic field or a current causes a transition from a disordered state, in which magnetic charges are distributed at random, to an ordered state, in which they are regularly arranged on the sites of two interpenetrating triangular Wigner crystals. The field and current tuning of electrical properties are highly desirable functionalities for spintronics applications. Consequently, a new spintronics research platform can be envisaged using artificial magnetic honeycomb lattices.