Theory for the spin caloritronic nano-oscillator

Abstract

Auto-oscillations of the magnetization in ferromagnetic hybrid nanostructures driven by spin currents produced by a variety of processes have attracted attention for their challenging physics and possible applications, such as microwave assisted magnetic recording, neuromorphic computing, and chip to chip wireless communications. Of particular interest are applications in which the spin current is produced by a thermal gradient in the configuration of the spin Seebeck effect, because it makes it possible to harvest the thermal energy generated in nanodevices. A few years ago, it was demonstrated experimentally that in a simple bilayer made of a thin film of the insulating ferrimagnet yttrium iron garnet in contact with a platinum layer, the application of a temperature difference across the bilayer produced a coherent microwave auto-oscillation. This device was called a spin caloritronic nano-oscillator. Here we show that these experiments are explained quantitatively by a theory based on a mechanism in which one magnon in the spin current splits into two magnons, one of them being the magnon mode resonating at the nanostructure. The theoretical value of the critical temperature gradient necessary to overcome the magnetic damping to produce auto-oscillations is in good agreement with the one employed in the experiments.