Dimensionality and finite size
Study the transition between three-dimensional and two-dimensional statistics as a function of system size and aspect ratio.
Active project · 2023–2026
ARTIFAQS
Regimes y Transiciones de Avalanchas en Ferroicos como Análogos a Sistemas Quasiplanares
Scientific objective
ARTIFAQS studies avalanche dynamics in quasiplanar ferroic systems. It investigates how dimensionality, finite size, interaction geometry and large-scale heterogeneities modify avalanche propagation and transitions between dynamical regimes.
The programme combines integrated measurements with spatial information to connect the macroscopic response of a system to the local motion of domain walls.
Core questions
Lacunarity and heterogeneity
Determine how voids, defects and heterogeneous fields alter avalanche propagation and size distributions.
Nucleation and depinning
Relate nucleation in 3D/2D systems to the depinning dynamics of interfaces and domain walls.
Universality
Investigate how mean-field avalanche statistics emerge from topology, geometry and interaction type.
Experimental platform and methods
- Purpose-engineered nickel thin films as experimental analogues of quasiplanar ferroic systems.
- Polarised-light and magneto-optical Kerr microscopy to track the spatial motion of domains.
- Magnetoresistance measurements and recording of acoustic and magnetic noise.
- Statistical analysis of point processes, precursors and event-to-event correlations.
- Numerical avalanche models and comparison with mean-field and interface-depinning predictions.
Scientific continuity
ARTIFAQS provides the experimental and theoretical foundation of the current programme on domain walls and criticality. DYNAMAG, starting on 1 September 2026, will extend this line towards control of creep, avalanche, depinning and flow regimes through geometry, pulsed fields, anisotropic disorder and surface acoustic waves.
Publications resulting from the project
The list includes publications in which the project is explicitly identified in the acknowledgements or funding metadata.
- Leveraging spurious Omori-Utsu relation in the nearest-neighbor declustering method. Physical Review E 111, 024307 (2025). doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.111.024307
- Magnetoacoustic waves in a highly magnetostrictive Fe₇₂Ga₂₈ thin film. APL Materials 13, 021112 (2025). doi:10.1063/5.0237699
- A universal route from avalanches in mean-field models with random fields to stochastic Poisson branching events. Chaos 35, 073107 (2025). doi:10.1063/5.0268639
- Disorder-aided early warning signals: Predicting catastrophic shifts in athermal systems. Physical Review Research 7, 043228 (2025). doi:10.1103/t84q-m6zh
Preprints
- Chiral-phonon generation of orbital currents in light transition metals. arXiv:2512.08385 (2025). arXiv:2512.08385
Funding
Project PID2022-136762NA-I00 is funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF, EU.
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