No Arabic abstract
We demonstrate the electrical detection of magnon-magnon hybrid dynamics in yttrium iron garnet/permalloy (YIG/Py) thin film bilayer devices. Direct microwave current injection through the conductive Py layer excites the hybrid dynamics consisting of the uniform mode of Py and the first standing spin wave ($n=1$) mode of YIG, which are coupled via interfacial exchange. Both the two hybrid modes, with Py or YIG dominated excitations, can be detected via the spin rectification signals from the conductive Py layer, providing phase resolution of the coupled dynamics. The phase characterization is also applied to a nonlocally excited Py device, revealing the additional phase shift due to the perpendicular Oersted field. Our results provide a device platform for exploring hybrid magnonic dynamics and probing their phases, which are crucial for implementing coherent information processing with magnon excitations
We have measured the critical phase change conditions induced by electrical pulses in Ge2Sb2Te5 nanopillar phase change memory devices by constructing a comprehensive resistance map as a function of pulse parameters (width, amplitude and trailing edge). Our measurements reveal that the heating scheme and the details of the contact geometry play the dominant role in determining the final phase composition of the device such that a non-uniform heating scheme promotes partial amorphization/crystallization for a wide range of pulse parameters enabling multiple resistance levels for data storage applications. Furthermore we find that fluctuations in the snap-back voltage and set/reset resistances in repeated switching experiments are related to the details of the current distribution such that a uniform current injection geometry (i.e. circular contact) favors more reproducible switching parameters. This shows that possible geometrical defects in nanoscale phase change memory devices may play an essential role in the performance of the smallest possible devices through modification of the exact current distribution in the active chalcogenide layer. We present a three-dimensional finite element model of the electro-thermal physics to provide insights into the underlying physical mechanisms of the switching dynamics as well as to quantitatively account for the scaling behaviour of the switching currents in both circular and rectangular contact geometries. The calculated temporal evolution of the heat distribution within the pulse duration shows distinct features in rectangular contacts providing evidence for locally hot spots at the sharp corners of the current injection site due to current crowding effects leading to the observed behaviour.
The field of magnonics offers a new type of low-power information processing, in which magnons, the quanta of spin waves, carry and process data instead of electrons. Many magnonic devices were demonstrated recently, but the development of each of them requires specialized investigations and, usually, one device design is suitable for one function only. Here, we introduce the method of inverse-design magnonics, in which any functionality can be specified first, and a feedback-based computational algorithm is used to obtain the device design. Our proof-of-concept prototype is based on a rectangular ferromagnetic area which can be patterned using square shaped voids. To demonstrate the universality of this approach, we explore linear, nonlinear and nonreciprocal magnonic functionalities and use the same algorithm to create a magnonic (de-)multiplexer, a nonlinear switch and a circulator. Thus, inverse-design magnonics can be used to develop highly efficient rf applications as well as Boolean and neuromorphic computing building blocks.
Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are a novel and intriguing class of materials in the field of nanoelectronics, since their properties, solely defined by their width and edge type, are controllable with high precision directly from synthesis. Here we study the correlation between the GNR structure and the corresponding device electrical properties. We investigated a series of field effect devices consisting of a film of armchair GNRs with different structures (namely width and/or length) as the transistor channel, contacted with narrowly spaced graphene sheets as the source-drain electrodes. By analyzing several tens of junctions for each individual GNR type, we observe that the values of the output current display a width-dependent behavior, indicating electronic bandgaps in good agreement with the predicted theoretical values. These results provide insights into the link between the ribbon structure and the device properties, which are fundamental for the development of GNR-based electronics.
A design of a magnonic phase shifter operating without an external bias magnetic field is proposed. The phase shifter uses a localized collective spin wave mode propagating along a domain wall waveguide in a dipolarly-coupled magnetic dot array existing in a chessboard antiferromagnetic (CAFM) ground state. It is demonstrated numerically that remagnetization of a single magnetic dot adjacent to the domain wall waveguide introduces a controllable phase shift in the propagating spin wave mode without significant change of the mode amplitude. It is also demonstrated that a logic XOR gate can be realized in the same system.
A longstanding goal of research in semiconductor spintronics is the ability to inject, modulate, and detect electron spin in a single device. A simple prototype consists of a lateral semiconductor channel with two ferromagnetic contacts, one of which serves as a source of spin-polarized electrons and the other as a detector. Based on work in analogous metallic systems, two important criteria have emerged for demonstrating electrical detection of spin transport. The first is the measurement of a non-equilibrium spin population using a non-local ferromagnetic detector through which no charge current flows. The potential at the detection electrode should be sensitive to the relative magnetizations of the detector and the source electrodes, a property referred to as the spin-valve effect. A second and more rigorous test is the existence of a Hanle effect, which is the modulation and suppression of the spin valve signal due to precession and dephasing in a transverse magnetic field. Here we report on the observation of both the spin valve and Hanle effects in lateral devices consisting of epitaxial Fe Schottky tunnel barrier contacts on an n-doped GaAs channel. The dependence on transverse magnetic field, temperature, and contact separation are in good agreement with a model incorporating spin drift and diffusion. Spin transport is detected for both directions of current flow through the source electrode. The sign of the electrical detection signal is found to vary with the injection current and is correlated with the spin polarization in the GaAs channel determined by optical measurements. These results therefore demonstrate a fully electrical scheme for spin injection, transport, and detection in a lateral semiconductor device.