Spin-wave Excitations Research Articles

Strong-Magnetic-Field Magnon Transport in Monolayer Graphene

At high magnetic fields, monolayer graphene hosts competing phases distinguished by their breaking of the approximate SU(4) isospin symmetry. Recent experiments have observed an even denominator fractional quantum Hall state thought to be associated with a transition in the underlying isospin order from a spin-singlet charge density wave at low magnetic fields to an antiferromagnet at high magnetic fields, implying that a similar transition must occur at charge neutrality. However, this transition does not generate contrast in typical electrical transport or thermodynamic measurements and no direct evidence for it has been reported, despite theoretical interest arising from its potentially unconventional nature. Here, we measure the transmission of ferromagnetic magnons through the two-dimensional bulk of clean monolayer graphene. Using spin polarized fractional quantum Hall states as a benchmark, we find that magnon transmission is controlled by the detailed properties of the low-momentum spin waves in the intervening Hall fluid, which is highly density dependent. Remarkably, as the system is driven into the antiferromagnetic regime, robust magnon transmission is restored across a wide range of filling factors consistent with Pauli blocking of fractional quantum Hall spin-wave excitations and their replacement by conventional ferromagnetic magnons confined to the minority graphene sublattice. Finally, using devices in which spin waves are launched directly into the insulating charge-neutral bulk, we directly detect the hidden phase transition between bulk insulating charge density wave and a canted antiferromagnetic phase at charge neutrality, completing the experimental map of broken-symmetry phases in monolayer graphene.3 MoreReceived 6 February 2021Revised 22 February 2022Accepted 28 April 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.12.021060Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasFractional quantum Hall effectSpintronicsPhysical SystemsGrapheneCondensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Fully resonant magneto-elastic spin-wave excitation by surface acoustic waves under conservation of energy and linear momentum

We report on the resonant excitation of spin waves in micro-structured magnetic thin films by short-wavelength surface acoustic waves (SAWs). The spin waves as well as the acoustic waves are studied by micro-focused Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy. At low magnetic bias fields, a resonant phonon–magnon conversion is possible, which results in the excitation of short-wavelength spin waves. Using micromagnetic simulations, we verify that during this excitation both energy and linear momentum are conserved and fully transferred from the SAW to the spin wave. This conversion can already be detected after an interaction length of a few micrometers. Thus, our findings pave the way for miniaturized magneto-elastic spin-wave emitters for magnon computing.

Anticollinear order and degeneracy lifting in square lattice antiferromagnet LaSrCrO4

We report the static and dynamic magnetic properties of ${\mathrm{LaSrCrO}}_{4}$, a seemingly canonical spin-3/2 square-lattice antiferromagnet that exhibits frustration between magnetic layers---owing to their AB stacking---and offers a rare testbed to investigate accidental-degeneracy lifting in magnetism. Neutron diffraction experiments on single-crystal samples uncover a remarkable anticollinear magnetic order below ${T}_{N}$ = 170 K characterized by a N\'eel arrangement of the spins within each layer and an orthogonal arrangement between adjacent layers. To understand the origin of this unusual magnetic structure, we analyze the spin-wave excitation spectrum by means of inelastic neutron scattering and bulk measurements. A spectral gap of 0.5 meV, along with a spin-flop transition at 3.2 T, reflect the energy scale associated with the degeneracy-lifting. A minimal model to explain these observations requires both a positive biquadratic interlayer exchange and dipolar interactions, both of which are on the order of 10${}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ meV, only a few parts per million of the dominant exchange interaction ${J}_{1}\ensuremath{\approx}11$ meV. These results provide direct evidence for the selection of a noncollinear magnetic structure by the combined effect of two distinct degeneracy lifting interactions.

Magnetic order and exchange coupling in the frustrated diamond-lattice antiferromagnet MnSc2Se4

We report the magnetic properties of $A$-site spinel compound MnSc$_2$Se$_4$. The macroscopic magnetic measurements uncovers successive magnetic transitions at $T_{\rm{N1}}$= 2.04 K, followed by two further transitions at $T_{\rm{N2}}$=1.8 K and $T_{\rm{N3}}$=1.6 K. Neutron powder diffraction reveals that both, $T_{\rm{N2}} < T < T_{\rm{N1}}$ and $T <T_{\rm{N3}}$, orders are associated with the propagation vector $k$=(3/4 3/4 0), while the magnetic structures are collinear amplitude modulated and helical, respectively. Using neutron powder spectroscopy we demonstrated the effect of substitution of S by Se on the magnetic exchange. The energy range of the spin-wave excitations is supressed due to the chemical pressure of the $X$- ion in MnSc$_2X_4$ ($X$=S, Se) spinels.

Hilbert Space Structure of the Low Energy Sector of U(N) Quantum Hall Ferromagnets and Their Classical Limit

Using the Lieb–Mattis ordering theorem of electronic energy levels, we identify the Hilbert space of the low energy sector of U(N) quantum Hall/Heisenberg ferromagnets at filling factor M for L Landau/lattice sites with the carrier space of irreducible representations of U(N) described by rectangular Young tableaux of M rows and L columns, and associated with Grassmannian phase spaces U(N)/U(M)×U(N−M). We embed this N-component fermion mixture in Fock space through a Schwinger–Jordan (boson and fermion) representation of U(N)-spin operators. We provide different realizations of basis vectors using Young diagrams, Gelfand–Tsetlin patterns and Fock states (for an electron/flux occupation number in the fermionic/bosonic representation). U(N)-spin operator matrix elements in the Gelfand–Tsetlin basis are explicitly given. Coherent state excitations above the ground state are computed and labeled by complex (N−M)×M matrix points Z on the Grassmannian phase space. They adopt the form of a U(N) displaced/rotated highest-weight vector, or a multinomial Bose–Einstein condensate in the flux occupation number representation. Replacing U(N)-spin operators by their expectation values in a Grassmannian coherent state allows for a semi-classical treatment of the low energy (long wavelength) U(N)-spin-wave coherent excitations (skyrmions) of U(N) quantum Hall ferromagnets in terms of Grasmannian nonlinear sigma models.

Anisotropic spin-wave excitations in multiferroic BiFeO3

Polarized inelastic neutron-scattering experiments have been performed to elucidate the anisotropic behavior of the low-energy spin-wave excitations in a multiferroic ${\mathrm{BiFeO}}_{3}$, which shows a cycloidal spin structure below 640 K. Using neutron polarization analysis for single magnetic domain crystals, magnetic excitation modes in and out of the cycloidal plane below 6 meV were separated successfully. The magnetic excitation spectra were analyzed using linear spin-wave theory. The low-energy magnon density of states consist of several magnon modes, including the two anisotropic modes, $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Phi}}$ and $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Psi}}$ modes, distributed in and out of the cycloidal plane, respectively, which were previously observed using optical spectroscopies. Furthermore, there are other magnon modes that are not active in optical measurements. A model spin Hamiltonian, which reproduces the spin-wave frequencies observed using optical spectroscopies, explains the overall spectra reasonably well.

Parametric generation of spin waves in nanoscaled magnonic conduits

The research feld of magnonics proposes a low-energy wave-logic computation technology based on spin waves to complement the established CMOS technology and provide a basis for emerging unconventional computation architectures. However, magnetic damping is a limiting factor for all-magnonic logic circuits and multi-device networks, ultimately rendering mechanisms to effciently manipulate and amplify spin waves a necessity. In this regard, parallel pumping is a versatile tool since it allows to selectively generate and amplify spin waves. While extensively studied in microscopic systems, nano-scaled systems are lacking investigation to assess the feasibility and potential future use of parallel pumping in magnonics. Here, we investigate a longitudinally magnetized 100 nm-wide magnonic nano-conduit using space and time-resolved micro-focused Brillouin-light-scattering spectroscopy. Employing parallel pumping to generate spin waves, we observe that the non-resonant excitation of dipolar spin waves is favored over the resonant excitation of short wavelength exchange spin waves. In addition, we utilize this technique to access the effective spin-wave relaxation time of an individual nano-conduit, observing a large relaxation time up to (115.0 +- 7.6) ns. Despite the significant decrease of the pumping effciency in the investigated nano-conduit, a reasonably small threshold is found rendering parallel pumping feasible on the nano-scale.

Neutron Spectroscopy Evidence for a Possible Magnetic-Field-Induced Gapless Quantum-Spin-Liquid Phase in a Kitaev Material α-RuCl3

As one of the most promising Kitaev quantum-spin-liquid (QSL) candidates, α-RuCl3 has received a great deal of attention. However, its ground state exhibits a long-range zigzag magnetic order, which defies the QSL phase. Nevertheless, the magnetic order is fragile and can be completely suppressed by applying an external magnetic field. Here, we explore the evolution of magnetic excitations of α-RuCl3 under an in-plane magnetic field, by carrying out inelastic neutron scattering measurements on high-quality single crystals. Under zero field, there exist spin-wave excitations near the M point and a continuum near the Γ point, which are believed to be associated with the zigzag magnetic order and fractional excitations of the Kitaev QSL state, respectively. By increasing the magnetic field, the spin-wave excitations gradually give way to the continuous excitations. On the verge of the critical field μ 0 H c = 7.5 T, the former ones vanish and only the latter ones are left, indicating the emergence of a pure QSL state. By further increasing the field strength, the excitations near the Γ point become more intense. By following the gap evolution of the excitations near the Γ point, we are able to establish a phase diagram composed of three interesting phases, including a gapped zigzag order phase at low fields, possibly gapless QSL phase near μ 0 H c, and gapped partially polarized phase at high fields. These results demonstrate that an in-plane magnetic field can drive α-RuCl3 into a long-sought QSL state near the critical field.

Nonequilibrium sub-10 nm spin-wave soliton formation in FePt nanoparticles.

Magnetic nanoparticles such as FePt in the L10 phase are the bedrock of our current data storage technology. As the grains become smaller to keep up with technological demands, the superparamagnetic limit calls for materials with higher magnetocrystalline anisotropy. This, in turn, reduces the magnetic exchange length to just a few nanometers, enabling magnetic structures to be induced within the nanoparticles. Here, we describe the existence of spin-wave solitons, dynamic localized bound states of spin-wave excitations, in FePt nanoparticles. We show with time-resolved x-ray diffraction and micromagnetic modeling that spin-wave solitons of sub-10 nm sizes form out of the demagnetized state following femtosecond laser excitation. The measured soliton spin precession frequency of 0.1 THz positions this system as a platform to develop novel miniature devices.

Nonlinear signal processing with magnonic superlattice with two periods

In this work, we provide investigations of nonlinear spin wave propagation in magnonic superlattice. Magnonic superlattice is a ferromagnetic film loaded on a dielectric ceramic substrate with the copper grating with two periods. It is shown that a superlattice with two periods allows the formation of narrower bandgaps as compared to magnonic crystal with one period. Nonlinear effects, such as the generation of spin wave excitations at half-frequency, caused by first-order parametric processes, and a nonlinear shift of the bandgap, caused by a change in the longitudinal component of magnetization with an increase in the input signal power, are revealed. For the experimental study, the Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy was used, and the theoretical model was built using the transfer matrix method.

Spectrum evolution and chirping of laser-induced spin wave packets in thin iron films

We present an experimental study of ultrafast optical excitation of magnetostatic surface spin wave (MSSW) packets and their spectral properties in thin films of pure iron. As the packets leave the excitation area and propagate in space, their spectra evolve non-trivially. Particularly, low or high frequency components are suppressed at the border of the excitation area depending on the orientation of the external magnetic field with respect to the magnetocrystalline anisotropy axes of the film. The effect is ascribed to the ultrafast local heating of the film. Furthermore, the time resolution of the implemented all-optical technique allows us to extract the chirp of the MSSW packet in the time domain via wavelet analysis. The chirp is a result of the group velocity dispersion of the MSSW and, thus, is controlled by the film's magnetic parameters, magnetization and anisotropy, and external field orientation. The demonstrated tunable modulation of MSSW wave packets with femtosecond laser pulses may find application in future magnonic-photonic hybrid devices for wave-based data processing.

Lumped circuit model for inductive antenna spin-wave transducers

We derive a lumped circuit model for inductive antenna spin-wave transducers in the vicinity of a ferromagnetic medium. The model considers the antenna’s Ohmic resistance, its inductance, as well as the additional inductance due to the excitation of ferromagnetic resonance or spin waves in the ferromagnetic medium. As an example, the additional inductance is discussed for a wire antenna on top of a ferromagnetic waveguide, a structure that is characteristic for many magnonic devices and experiments. The model is used to assess the scaling properties and the energy efficiency of inductive antennas. Issues related to scaling antenna transducers to the nanoscale and possible solutions are also addressed.

Element-selective ultrafast magnetization dynamics of hybrid Stoner-Heisenberg magnets

Stoner and Heisenberg excitations in magnetic materials are inherently different. The first involves an effective reduction of the exchange splitting, whereas the second comprises excitation of spin waves. In this work, we test the impact of these two excitations in the hybrid Stoner-Heisenberg system of FePd. We present a microscopic picture of ultrafast demagnetization dynamics in this alloy, which represents both components of strong local exchange splitting in Fe and induced polarization in Pd. We identify the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and the optical intersite spin transfer (OISTR) as the two dominant factors for demagnetization at ultrashort timescales. Remarkably, the drastic difference in the origin of the magnetic moment of the Fe and Pd species is not deciding the initial magnetization dynamics in this alloy. By tuning the external laser pulse, the extrinsic OISTR can be manipulated for site-selective demagnetization on femtosecond timescales providing the fastest way for optical and selective control of the magnetization dynamics in alloys. Saliently, our results signify why various experiments demonstrating OISTR might obtain conflicting results.

Magnetic structure and exchange interactions in the Heisenberg pyrochlore antiferromagnet Gd2Pt2O7

The Heisenberg pyrochlore antiferromagnet ${\mathrm{Gd}}_{2}{\mathrm{Pt}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{7}$ is one of a series of gadolinium pyrochlore compounds with a variety of B-site cations. Despite the expected simplicity of a spin-only ${\mathrm{Gd}}^{3+}$ Heisenberg interaction model, the gadolinium pyrochlore series exhibits various complex magnetic ground states at low temperature. ${\mathrm{Gd}}_{2}{\mathrm{Pt}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{7}$ displays the highest temperature magnetic order of the series with ${T}_{N}=1.6$ K, which has been attributed to enhanced superexchange pathways facilitated by empty $5d\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{e}_{g}$ Pt orbitals. In this study, we use various neutron scattering techniques on an isotopically enriched polycrystalline $^{160}\mathrm{Gd}{}_{2}{\mathrm{Pt}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{7}$ sample to examine the magnetic structure and spin-wave excitation spectrum below ${T}_{N}$ in order to extract the dominant exchange interactions. We find that the ground-state magnetic structure is the Palmer-Chalker state previously seen in ${\mathrm{Gd}}_{2}{\mathrm{Sn}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{7}$ with an associated gapped excitation spectrum consistent with enhanced exchange interactions between further near-neighbor ${\mathrm{Gd}}^{3+}$ ions. We confirm this exchange model with analysis of the magnetic diffuse scattering in the paramagnetic regime using polarized neutrons.

Tuneable electron\u2013magnon coupling of ferromagnetic surface states in PdCoO2

Controlling spin wave excitations in magnetic materials underpins the burgeoning field of magnonics. Yet, little is known about how magnons interact with the conduction electrons of itinerant magnets, or how this interplay can be controlled. Via a surface-sensitive spectroscopic approach, we demonstrate a strong electron–magnon coupling at the Pd-terminated surface of the delafossite oxide PdCoO2, where a polar surface charge mediates a Stoner transition to itinerant surface ferromagnetism. We show how the coupling is enhanced sevenfold with increasing surface disorder, and concomitant charge carrier doping, becoming sufficiently strong to drive the system into a polaronic regime, accompanied by a significant quasiparticle mass enhancement. Our study thus sheds light on electron–magnon interactions in solid-state materials, and the ways in which these can be controlled.

Neutron Spectroscopy Evidence on the Dual Nature of Magnetic Excitations in a van der Waals Metallic Ferromagnet Fe2.72GeTe2

In the local or itinerant extreme, magnetic excitations can be described by the Heisenberg model which treats electron spins as localized moments, or by the itinerant-electron model where the exchange interaction between electrons leads to unequal numbers of electrons with up and down spins. However, it has been elusive when both local moments and itinerant electrons are present in the intermediate range. Using inelastic neutron scattering, we provide direct spectroscopic evidence on the coexistence of and interplay between local moments and itinerant electrons in a van der Waals metallic ferromagnet Fe$_{2.72}$GeTe$_{2}$, which can sustain tunable room-temperature ferromagnetism down to the monolayer limit. We find that there exist ferromagnetic spin-wave excitations dispersing from the zone center at low energies resulting from local moments, and a column-like broad continuum at the zone boundary at high energies up to over 100 meV resulting from itinerant electrons. Unlike the two-dimensional crystal structure, the low-energy mode exhibits a three-dimensional nature, and the high-energy mode also has an out-of-plane dependence. Both modes persist well above the Curie temperature of 160 K. Our neutron spectroscopic data reveal that the low-energy spin waves at 100 K are more coherent than those at 4 K, which is evidence of the weakening of the Kondo screening at high temperatures. These results unambiguously demonstrate the coexistence of local moments and itinerant electrons, and the Kondo effect between these two components in Fe$_{2.72}$GeTe$_{2}$. Such behaviors are generally expected in heavy-fermion systems with heavy $f$ electrons but rarely clearly observed in materials with light $d$ electrons. These findings shed light on the understanding of magnetism in transition-metal compounds.

Annealing Temperature and Thickness Dependencies of Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii– Moriya Interaction of Pt/Co/MgO Thin Films

Effects of the ferromagnetic layer thickness and annealing temperature were studied in Pt-/Co-/MgO-based systems grown on thermally oxidized Si substrates using magnetron sputtering system. The Co thicknesses were varied in the range of 1–6 nm and the samples were annealed <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ex situ</i> at 200 °C, 300 °C, and 400 °C. Vibrating sample magnetometry was used to determine the magnetization at saturation and the magnetic dead layer thickness that were found to be insignificantly affected by the annealing. Brillouin light scattering, in Damon–Eshbach configuration, was used to measure the thermally excited spin wave (SW) frequencies versus the in-plane applied magnetic field and the SW vector which were used to investigate the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) and interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (iDMI), respectively. The Co effective thickness dependence of the effective magnetization ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M_{\mathrm {eff}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ), which provides information on the PMA constants, shows the existence of two linear regimes with different slopes due to misfit strain-induced magnetoelastic anisotropy contributions to volume and surface terms. The volume magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant increases monotonously with annealing temperature, whereas the pure surface (Néel type) constant increases with annealing up to 300 °C and degrades at 400 °C. The surface iDMI constant decreases with increasing annealing temperature and no obvious correlation with interface PMA constant has been found, suggesting different interfaces contribution to PMA and iDMI.

Mode selective excitation of spin waves

Spin waves propagating in a waveguide have eigenmodes depending on the standing waves formed in the perpendicular direction. Although it is functional to excite high order spin wave modes, it has been difficult to excite a high order spin wave mode selectively. In this work, we numerically investigated spin wave excitation in a T-shaped magnetic device, and we consequently found that even high order spin wave modes are selectively excited by optimizing the frequency and the dimension of the T-shaped structure.

Inverse Faraday effect from the orbital angular momentum of light

It is usually admitted that the inverse Faraday effect (IFE) originates from the spin angular momentum (SAM) of light. In this paper, we show that part of the IFE in a metal is induced by the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light. On the basis of a hydrodynamic model of the conduction electron gas, we describe the dependence of the IFE on the spin and orbital angular momenta as well as spin-orbit interaction in a nonparaxial light beam. We also numerically quantify the relative contributions of the SAM and OAM of light to the IFE in a thin gold film illuminated by different focused beams carrying SAM and/or OAM. The OAM of light provides an additional degree of freedom in the control of the IFE and resulting optomagnetic field, thus potentially impacting various research fields, including all-optical magnetization switching and spin-wave excitation.

Growth and characterization of large (Y,La)TiO3 and (Y,Ca)TiO3 single crystals

The Mott-insulating rare-earth titanates ($R{\mathrm{TiO}}_{3}$, with $R$ being a rare-earth ion) are an important class of materials that encompasses interesting spin-orbital phases as well as ferromagnet-antiferromagnet and insulator-metal transitions. The growth of these materials has been plagued by difficulties related to overoxidation, which arises from a strong tendency of ${\mathrm{Ti}}^{3+}$ to oxidize to ${\mathrm{Ti}}^{4+}$. We describe our efforts to grow sizable single crystals of ${\mathrm{YTiO}}_{3}, {\mathrm{Y}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{La}}_{x}{\mathrm{TiO}}_{3}$ ($x\ensuremath{\le}0.25$), and ${\mathrm{Y}}_{1\ensuremath{-}y}{\mathrm{Ca}}_{y}{\mathrm{TiO}}_{3}$ ($y\ensuremath{\le}0.35$) with the optical traveling-solvent floating-zone technique. We present sample characterization via chemical composition analysis, magnetometry, charge transport, neutron scattering, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism to understand macroscopic physical property variations associated with overoxidation. Furthermore, we demonstrate a good signal-to-noise ratio in inelastic magnetic neutron scattering measurements of spin-wave excitations. A superconducting impurity phase, found to appear in Ca-doped samples at high doping levels, is identified as TiO.