No Arabic abstract
The dipolar (magnetostatic) interaction dominates the behavior of spin waves in magnetic films in the long-wavelength regime. In an in-plane magnetized film, volume modes exist with a negative group velocity (backward volume magnetostatic spin waves), in addition to the forward surface-localized mode (Damon-Eshbach). Inside the film of finite thickness $L$, the volume modes have a nontrivial spatial dependence, and their two-dimensional dispersion relations $omega(mathbf{k})$ can be calculated only numerically. We present explicit perturbative expressions for the profiles and frequencies of the volume modes, taking into account an in-plane applied field and uniaxial anisotropy, for the regimes $lVert mathbf{k}L rVert gg 1$ and $lVert mathbf{k}L rVert ll 1$, which together provide a good indication of the behavior of the modes for arbitrary wavevector $mathbf{k}$. Moreover, we derive a very accurate semianalytical expression for the dispersion relation $omega(mathbf{k})$ of the lowest-frequency mode that is straightforward to evaluate using standard numerical routines. Our results are useful to quickly interpret and control the excitation and propagation of spin waves in (opto-)magnetic experiments.
Recent experimental work has demonstrated optical control of spin wave emission by tuning the shape of the optical pulse (Satoh et al. Nature Photonics, 6, 662 (2012)). We reproduce these results and extend the scope of the control by investigating nonlinear effects for large amplitude excitations. We observe an accumulation of spin wave power at the center of the initial excitation combined with short-wavelength spin waves. These kind of nonlinear effects have not been observed in earlier work on nonlinearities of spin waves. Our observations pave the way for the manipulation of magnetic structures at a smaller scale than the beam focus, for instance in devices with all-optical control of magnetism.
The existence of backscattering-immune spin-wave modes is demonstrated in magnetic thin films of nano-scale thickness. Our results reveal that chiral Magneto Static Surface Waves (cMSSWs), which propagate perpendicular to the magnetization direction in an in-plane magnetized thin film, are robust against backscattering from surface defects. cMSSWs are protected against various types of surface inhomogeneities and defects as long as their frequency lies inside the gap of the volume modes. Our explanation is independent of the topology of the modes and predicts that this robustness is a consequence of symmetry breaking of the dynamic magnetic fields of cMSSWs due to the off-diagonal part of the dipolar interaction tensor, which is present both for long- (dipole dominated) and short-wavelength (exchange dominated) spin waves. Micromagnetic simulations confirm the robust character of the cMSSWs. Our results open a new direction in designing highly efficient magnonic logic elements and devices employing cMSSWs in nano-scale thin films.
We propose a topological characterization of Hamiltonians describing classical waves. Applying it to the magnetostatic surface spin waves that are important in spintronics applications, we settle the speculation over their topological origin. For a class of classical systems that includes spin waves driven by dipole-dipole interactions, we show that the topology is characterized by vortex lines in the Brillouin zone in such a way that the symplectic structure of Hamiltonian mechanics plays an essential role. We define winding numbers around these vortex lines and identify them to be the bulk topological invariants for a class of semimetals. Exploiting the bulk-edge correspondence appropriately reformulated for these classical waves, we predict that surface modes appear but not in a gap of the bulk frequency spectrum. This feature, consistent with the magnetostatic surface spin waves, indicates a broader realm of topological phases of matter beyond spectrally gapped ones.
The dispersion of the volume relativistic magnetoplasma mode in a gated GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well is measured using a coupled resonators detection technique. The weakly damped relativistic mode exhibits an unusual zigzag-shaped magnetodispersion dependence dictated by the diagonal component of the resistivity tensor $rho_{xx}$. The plasma excitation easily hybridizes with photon modes due to a large spatial delocalization of its electromagnetic field. The effects of electron density and structure geometry on the excitation spectrum have been investigated.
Propagation of backward magnetostatic surface spin waves (SWs) in exchange coupled Co/FeNi bilayers are studied by using Brillouin light scattering (BLS) technique. Two types of SWs modes were identified in our BLS measurements. They are magnetostatic surface waves (MSSWs) mode and perpendicular standing spin waves (PSSWs) mode. The dispersion relations of MSSWs obtained from the Stokes and Anti-Stokes measurements display respectively positive and negative group velocities. The Anti-Stokes branch with positive phase velocities and negative group velocities, known as backward magnetostatic surface mode originates from the magnetostatic interaction of the bilayer. The experimental data are in good agreement with the theoretical calculations. Our results are useful for understanding the SWs propagation and miniaturizing SWs storage devices.