Critical slowing down in the two-dimensional Ising model measured using ferromagnetic ultrathin films

Power-law scaling of the relaxation time τ associated with critical slowing down has been experimentally measured in the dynamics of the magnetization of a bilayer of iron grown on top of a W(110) substrate using the complex magnetic ac susceptibility χ(T). The observed value of the critical exponent for the slowing down above the Curie transition of this two-dimensional Ising ferromagnetic system is zν=2.09±0.06 (95% confidence), in agreement with most contemporary theories and simulations. Further analysis reveals that dynamical effects cause χ(T) to deviate from power-law scaling as the temperature is decreased towards Tc, whereas the saturation of the correlation length due to finite-size effects (on the order of 500 lattice spaces) limits the divergence of τ.