Control of Propagating Spin Waves via Spin Transfer Torque in a Metallic Bilayer Waveguide

We investigate the effect of a direct current on propagating spin waves in a CoFeB/Ta bilayer structure. Using the micro-Brillouin light scattering technique, we observe that the spin wave amplitude may be attenuated or amplified depending on the direction of the current and the applied magnetic field. Our work suggests an effective approach for electrically controlling the propagation of spin waves in a magnetic waveguide and may be useful in a number of applications such as phase locked nano-oscillators and hybrid information processing devices.

Brillouin Light Scattering Spectra as local Temperature Sensors for Thermal Magnons and Acoustic Phonons

We demonstrate the use of the micro-Brillouin light scattering (micro-BLS) technique as a local temperature sensor for magnons in a Permalloy thin film and phonons in the glass substrate. A systematic shift in the frequencies of two thermally excited perpendicular standing spin wave modes as the film is uniformly heated allows us to achieve a temperature resolution better than 2.5 K. We demonstrate that the micro-BLS spectra can be used to measure the local temperatures of phonons and magnons across a thermal gradient. Such local temperature sensors are useful for investigating spin caloritronic and thermal transport phenomena in general.