Long-range structural and magnetic coherence in embedded mesospin metamaterials
Engineered assemblies of interacting magnetic elements—magnetic metamaterials—provide a powerful route to tailor collective magnetic order and dynamics. By structuring matter at the mesoscale, they bridge atomic magnetism and macroscopic functionality, enabling emergent behaviour inaccessible in conventional materials. However, realizing large-area metamaterials that combine high morphological uniformity with intrinsic long-range order has remained challenging, largely due to the structural disorder inherent to lithographic fabrication. Here we demonstrate a scalable route to structurally and magnetically coherent metamaterials by embedding iron-ions to form mesospins within a non-magnetic thin film palladium host matrix. Using controlled implantation, we realize morphologically uniform arrays that spontaneously develop extended antiferromagnetic order in the as-fabricated state—without the need of external annealing or field cycling. Resonant X-ray scattering and microscopy reveal sharp magnetic Bragg peaks modulated by the mesospin form factor, evidencing long-range antiferromagnetic order coupled to structural coherence. This embedded architecture establishes a platform for exploring coherent spin–photon interactions and functional X-ray scattering in magnetic metamaterials free from lithographic topography and disorder.
Authors
- Christina Vantaraki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5772-4649)
- Matías P. Grassi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9551-9793)
- T. P. A. Hase (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5274-5942)
- Max Wolff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7517-8204)
- Daniel Primetzhofer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5815-3742)
- Michael H Foerster (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4147-6668)
- Nicolas Jaouen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1781-7669)
- Brindaban Ojha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0276-6937)
- Vassilios Kapaklis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6105-1659)
- Thomas Saerbeck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7913-691X)
- Oier Bikondoa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9004-9032)
- Natalia Kwiatek-Maroszek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6861-4066)
- Miguel Angel Niño Orti
- Alkaios Stamatelatos
Institutions
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Synchrotron soleil (FR)
- ALBA Synchrotron (Spain) (ES)
- University of Warwick (GB)
- Instituto de Física Fundamental (ES)
- Institut Laue-Langevin (FR)
- Instituto de Química Médica (ES)
- Instituto de Química Orgánica General (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2026-04-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-48207-w
- Primary Topic
- Magnetic properties of thin films
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Government of the United Kingdom
- UK Research and Innovation
- European Commission
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
- Vetenskapsrådet
- Uppsala Universitet
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- Science and Technology Facilities Council
- Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation