Abstract
Lorentz reciprocity establishes a stringent relation between electromagnetic fields and their sources. For static magnetic fields, a relation between magnetic sources and fields can be drawn in analogy to the Green’s reciprocity principle for electrostatics. So far, the magnetostatic reciprocity principle remains unchallenged and the magnetostatic interaction is assumed to be symmetric (reciprocal). Here, we theoretically and experimentally show that a linear and isotropic electrically conductive material moving with constant velocity is able to circumvent the magnetostatic reciprocity principle and realize a diode for magnetic fields. This result is demonstrated by measuring an extremely asymmetric magnetic coupling between two coils that are located near a moving conductor. The possibility to generate controlled unidirectional magnetic couplings implies that the mutual inductances between magnetic elements or circuits can be made extremely asymmetric. We anticipate that this result will provide novel possibilities for applications and technologies based on magnetically coupled elements and might open fundamentally new avenues in artificial magnetic spin systems.
- Received 15 May 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.213903
© 2018 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Synopsis
One-Way Transfer of Magnetic Fields
Published 20 November 2018
Researchers have created a material that acts as a magnetic diode, transferring magnetism from one object to another but not the other way around.
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