Charge-selective topological locking and ultraslow coarsening in magnetoelastic media

Abstract

We demonstrate that the symmetry of magnetoelastic coupling governs the topological organization of composite defects and can qualitatively alter phase-ordering kinetics. In a two-dimensional theory of an in-plane magnetic vector coupled to elastic strain, we find that integer magnetic vortices bind pairs of elementary elastic half-defects. Isotropic magnetostriction produces a core-induced elastic winding independent of the magnetic charge, giving defect binding without charge locking and leaving the magnetic sector with essentially XY-like coarsening. In contrast, quadrupolar magnetoelastic coupling locks magnetic and elastic defect charges: continuous rotational symmetry favors $q_ϕ=q_θ$, whereas crystalline anisotropy can reverse the locking to $q_ϕ=-q_θ$. We reveal that both locking sectors display anomalously slow vortex annihilation: defect density shows a power-law decay $t^{-2/5}$, while the average defect-velocity scales as $t^{-4/5}$. These results are consistent with a dynamic exponent $z\simeq 5$. We show that this coarsening slowdown is associated with large anisotropic elastic friction. An adiabatic elimination of the elastic field reveals that isotropic magnetostriction merely renormalizes local magnetic interactions, whereas orientational coupling induces effective nonlocal interactions between magnetic spins. Our experimentally testable results thus establish magnetoelastic coupling symmetry as a means of controlling defect topology and ordering kinetics.