Till Örebro universitet

At finite temperatures, fluctuations invariably introduce disorder and are responsible for ultimately destroying ordered phases. Here we present an unusual magnetic transition in elemental neodymium where, with increasing temperature, long-range multiply periodic 'multi-Q' magnetic order emerges from a self-induced spin glass. Using temperature-dependent spin-polarized scanning tunnelling microscopy, we characterize the local order of a previously reported spin glass phase, and quantify the emergence of long-range multi-Q order with increasing temperature. We develop two analysis tools that allow us to determine the glass transition temperature from measurements of the spatially dependent magnetization. We compare these observations with atomistic spin dynamics simulations, which reproduce the qualitative observation of a phase transition from a low-temperature spin glass phase to an intermediate ordered multi-Q phase. These simulations trace the origin of the unexpected high-temperature order in weakened frustration driven by temperature-dependent sublattice correlations. These findings constitute an example of order from disorder, and provide a platform to study the rich magnetization dynamics of a self-induced spin glass.

Thermal fluctuations associated with higher temperatures normally destroy long-range order, but in some circumstances they can stabilize new ordered phases. This 'order by disorder' phenomenon has now been observed in the magnetic phases of neodymium.