Dipolar interactions and origin of spin ice in ising pyrochlore magnets

Phys Rev Lett. 2000 Apr 10;84(15):3430-3. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.3430.

Abstract

Recent experiments suggest that the Ising pyrochlore magnets Ho2Ti2O7 and Dy2Ti2O7 display qualitative properties of the nearest-neighbor "spin ice" model. We discuss the dipolar energy scale present in both these materials and discuss how spin-ice behavior can occur despite the presence of long-range dipolar interactions. We present results of numerical simulations and a mean field analysis of Ising pyrochlore systems. Based on our quantitative theory, we suggest that the spin-ice behavior in these systems is due to long-range dipolar interactions, and that the nearest-neighbor exchange in Dy2Ti2O7 is antiferromagnetic.