Arrays
of interacting 2D nanomagnets display unprecedented electromagnetic
properties via collective effects, demonstrated in artificial spin
ices and magnonic crystals. Progress toward 3D magnetic metamaterials
is hampered by two challenges: fabricating 3D structures near intrinsic
magnetic length scales (sub-100 nm) and visualizing their magnetic
configurations. Here, we fabricate and measure nanoscale magnetic
gyroids, periodic chiral networks comprising nanowire-like struts
forming three-connected vertices. Via block copolymer templating,
we produce Ni75Fe25 single-gyroid and double-gyroid
(an inversion pair of single-gyroids) nanostructures with a 42 nm
unit cell and 11 nm diameter struts, comparable to the exchange length
in Ni–Fe. We visualize their magnetization distributions via
off-axis electron holography with nanometer spatial resolution and
interpret the patterns using finite-element micromagnetic simulations.
Our results suggest an intricate, frustrated remanent state which
is ferromagnetic but without a unique equilibrium configuration, opening
new possibilities for collective phenomena in magnetism, including
3D magnonic crystals and unconventional computing.
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