  Artificial spin ice systems have seen burgeoning interest due to their
intriguing physics and potential applications in reprogrammable memory, logic
and magnonics. Integration of artificial spin ice with functional magnonics is
a relatively recent research direction, with a host of promising results. As
the field progresses, direct in-depth comparisons of distinct artificial spin
systems are crucial to advancing the field. While studies have investigated the
effects of different lattice geometries, little comparison exists between
systems comprising continuously connected nanostructures, where spin-waves
propagate via dipole-exchange interaction, and systems with nanobars
disconnected at vertices where spin-wave propagation occurs via stray
dipolar-field. Gaining understanding of how these very different coupling
methods affect both spin-wave dynamics and magnetic reversal is key for the
field to progress and provides crucial system-design information including for
future systems containing combinations of connected and disconnected elements.
Here, we study the magnonic response of two kagome spin ices via Brillouin
light scattering, a continuously connected system and a disconnected system
with vertex gaps. We observe distinct high-frequency dynamics and magnetization
reversal regimes between the systems, with key distinctions in spin-wave
localization and mode quantization, microstate-trajectory during reversal and
internal field-profiles. These observations are pertinent for the fundamental
understanding of artificial spin systems and broader design and engineering of
reconfigurable functional magnonic crystals.
