We introduce the magnon circular photogalvanic effect enabled by stimulated Raman scattering. This provides an all-optical pathway to the generation of directed magnon currents with circularly polarized light in honeycomb antiferromagnetic insulators. The effect is the leading order contribution to magnon photocurrent generation via optical fields. Control of the magnon current by the polarization and angle of incidence of the laser is demonstrated. Experimental detection by sizeable inverse spin Hall voltages in platinum contacts is proposed.
Spin transport via magnon diffusion in magnetic insulators is important for a broad range of spin-based phenomena and devices. However, the absence of the magnon equivalent of an electric force is a bottleneck. In this work, we demonstrate the controlled generation of magnon drift currents in yttrium iron garnet/platinum heterostructures. By performing electrical injection and detection of incoherent magnons, we find magnon drift currents that stem from the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. We can further control the magnon drift by the orientation of the magnetic field. The drift current changes the magnon propagation length by up to $pm$ 6 % relative to diffusion. We generalize the magnonic spin transport theory to include a finite drift velocity resulting from any inversion asymmetric interaction, and obtain results consistent with our experiments.
We have studied the circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE) in Cu/Bi bilayers. When a circularly polarized light in the visible range is irradiated to the bilayer from an oblique incidence, we find a photocurrent that depends on the helicity of light. Such photocurrent appears in a direction perpendicular to the light plane of incidence but is absent in the parallel configuration. The helicity dependent photocurrent is significantly reduced for a Bi single layer film and the effect is nearly absent for a Cu single layer film. Conventional interpretation of the CPGE suggests the existence of spin-momentum locked band(s) of a Rashba type in the Cu/Bi bilayer. In contrast to previous reports on the CPGE studied in other systems, however, the light energy used here to excite the carriers is much larger than the band gap of Bi. Moreover, the CPGE of the Cu/Bi bilayer is larger when the energy of the light is larger: the helicity dependent photocurrent excited with a blue light is nearly two times larger than that of a red light. We therefore consider the CPGE of the Cu/Bi bilayer may have a different origin compared to conventional systems.
We develop a theory of circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE) for classically high photon energies which exceed the electron scattering rate but are small compared to the average electron kinetic energy. In this frequency range one can calculate the CPGE by using two different approaches. In the fully quantum-mechanical approach we find the photocurrent density by applying Fermis golden rule for indirect intraband optical transitions with virtual intermediate states both in the conduction and valence bands. In the framework of the semiclassical approach, we apply a generalized Boltzmann equation with accounts for the Berry-curvature induced anomalous velocity, side jumps and skew scattering. The calculation is carried out for a wurtzite symmetry crystal. Both methods yield the same results for the CPGE current demonstrating consistency between the two approaches and applicability of the semiclassical theory for the description of nonlinear high-frequency transport.
Currently, thermally excited magnons are being intensively investigated owing to their potential in computing devices and thermoelectric conversion technologies. We report the detection of thermal magnon current propagating in a magnetic insulator yttrium iron garnet under a temperature gradient using a quantum sensor: electron spins associated with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. Thermal magnon current was observed as modified Rabi oscillation frequencies of NV spins hosted in a beam-shaped bulk diamond that resonantly coupled with coherent magnon propagating over a long distance. Additionally, using a nanodiamond, alteration in NV spin relaxation rates depending on the applied temperature gradient were observed under a non-resonant NV excitation condition. The demonstration of probing thermal magnon current mediated by coherent magnon via NV spin states serves as a basis for creating a new device platform hybridizing spin caloritronics and spin qubits.
Magnon spin Nernst effect was recently proposed as an intrinsic effect in antiferromagnets, where spin diffusion and boundary spin transmission have been ignored. However, diffusion processes are essential to convert a bulk spin current into boundary spin accumulation, which determines the spin injection rate into detectors through imperfect transmission. We formulate a diffusive theory of the magnon spin Nernst effect with boundary conditions reflecting real device geometry. Thanks to the diffusion effect, the output signals in both electronic and optical detection grow rapidly with an increasing system size in the transverse dimension, which eventually saturate. Counterintuitively, the measurable signals are even functions of magnetic field, yielding optical detection more reliable than electronic detection.
Emil Vi~nas Bostrom
,Tahereh Sadat Parvini
,James W. McIvern
.
(2021)
.
"All-Optical Generation of Antiferromagnetic Magnon Currents via the Magnon Circular Photogalvanic Effect"
.
Emil Vi\\~nas Bostr\\\"om
هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا