New magnetic material spectroscopy (abstract)

Abstract

Sensitive commercial electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometers are able to measure 10∧13 spins. Using a high Tc weak link, we were able to measure FMR on yttrium ion garnet (YIG) films which were exposed to an effective area of 3 nm by 15 micrometers. Given that this is the area of excitation and the thickness of the YIG was 0.5 micrometers, we could measure less than 10∧9 spins in a YIG film. Our weak link was fabricated by patterning a 0.5 micrometer thick film of YBCO down to a 15 micrometer wide bridge across an artificial grain boundary in an MgO substrate. Our technique uses the ac Josephson effect to generate a microwave field which couples into a YIG film which is placed in intimate contact atop the link. The frequency of this microwave field is proportional to the voltage across the weak link. The absorption of the microwaves by the YIG will affect the voltage versus current behavior across the weak link. For a YIG film of 0.5 micrometers thickness, we measured an in-plane linewidth of 125 Gauss using the weak link technique. The FMR linewidth measured by a conventional EPR technique was 40 Gauss. This implies that the excitation by the weak link may be nonuniform. We present data which illustrate this effect and numerical results for the corresponding circuit model. Our conclusions are that we have developed a viable spectroscopy to characterize extremely local magnetic interactions.