Yttrium Iron Garnet Layer Research Articles

Dipolar induced nonreciprocal magnon hybridization in FeNi/YIG bilayers

We investigated the magnon hybridization behavior in FeNi films, which were deposited on the yttrium-iron garnet (YIG) films by using Brillouin light scattering. Nonreciprocal magnon hybridizations have been detected not only on the mode densities but also the dispersion relations. The perpendicular standing spin wave mode confined in the thickness direction hybridized with the top surface magnetostatic surface spin wave at smaller wave vectors range while hybridized with the bottom surface mode at larger wave vectors range. The dipolar interaction between the FeNi layer and the YIG layer should be the main reason for the nonreciprocal hybridization of the two modes in the FeNi layer. The nonreciprocal hybridization characteristics of FeNi/YIG double-layer magnetic films enrich the nonreciprocal magnon hybridization system and might have potential application in constructing spin wave-based devices.

Unusual inverse spin Hall effect in Pt/Co/Pt multilayers on single-crystalline YIG

The inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) is a significant phenomenon that enables the conversion of spin current into charge current, offering promising applications in novel spintronic devices. In conventional ISHE measurements, it is widely recognized that the spin polarization, spin current, and generated charge current are mutually perpendicular. This study systematically investigates the ISHE in Pt/Co/Pt multilayers grown on a single-crystalline yttrium iron garnet (YIG) layer. A non-zero ISHE voltage was obtained along the direction parallel to the external magnetic field within the YIG coercive field range, deviating from the classical ISHE behavior. Our investigation revealed that the in-plane magnetic anisotropy of single-crystalline YIG plays a crucial role, as the easy axis of YIG and the external magnetic field collaboratively determine the polarization direction of the spin current, especially when the external magnetic field is smaller than the YIG coercive force. Furthermore, by tuning the small in-plane magnetization component of the Pt/Co/Pt multilayers, which couples with the YIG magnetization, we were able to control the shape and reversal path of the ISHE voltage loop. These findings deepen our understanding of how magnetic order affects charge current flow in ISHE measurements. The variety of ISHE voltage loop shapes and reversal paths observed suggest potential applications for this device as a magnetic field sensor.

Phase jumps in coupled magnonic waveguides

In this work we present an experimental study of the phase characteristics of magnetostatic quasi-surface waves (MQSW) in a tangentially magnetized yttrium iron garnet (YIG) thin film bilayer. The phase of MQSWs was measured as a function of air gap (g) between two magnonic waveguides. It is shown that the energy exchange between two YIG layers is accompanied by relatively sharp π-radian phase jumps of MQSWs, at specific values of g. The effect was studied at large wavelengths of the MQSWs, and at a propagation distance of 1 cm. The theory predicts that the slope of the phase shift (∂φ/∂g) at submicrometric values of g can be of the order of a few degrees per nm.

Nonreciprocal Pancharatnam-Berry metasurface for unidirectional wavefront manipulations.

Optical metasurfaces employing the Pancharatnam-Berry (PB) geometric phase, called PB metasurfaces, have been extensively applied to realize spin-dependent light manipulations. However, the properties of conventional PB metasurfaces are intrinsically limited by the Lorentz reciprocity. Breaking reciprocity can give rise to new properties and phenomena unavailable in conventional reciprocal systems. Here, we propose a mechanism to realize nonreciprocal PB metasurfaces of subwavelength thickness by using the Faraday magneto-optical (FMO) effect of yttrium iron garnet (YIG) material in synergy with the PB geometric phase of spatially rotating meta-atoms. Using full-wave numerical simulations and multipole analysis, we show that the metasurface composed of dielectric cylinders and a thin YIG layer can achieve high isolation of circularly polarized lights, attributed to the enhancement of the magneto-optical effect by the resonant Mie modes and Fabry-Pérot (FP) cavity mode. In addition, the metasurface can enable unidirectional wavefront manipulations of circularly polarized lights, including nonreciprocal beam steering and nonreciprocal beam focusing. The results contribute to the understanding of the interplay between nonreciprocity and geometric phase in light manipulations and can find applications in optical communications, optical sensing, and quantum information processing.

Terahertz Magnetic Moiré Grating for Enhanced Chirality Manipulation and Nonreciprocal Spin Isolation

AbstractMagneto‐optical activity is a significant way to achieve asymmetric transmission for spin photons. However, it is severely limited by the weak light‐matter interaction in the terahertz (THz) region. In this work, a magnetic Moiré grating (MMG) is constructed by sandwiching an Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) single crystal in a pair of twisted 2D subwavelength gratings. The twisted angle between two gratings introduces a strong geometric Moiré chirality related to the Moiré pattern. When an external magnetic field is applied to the YIG layer, three different symmetries of spacial mirror image, time reversal, and spin conjugation are broken simultaneously under the chiral coupling between magneto‐optical activity and Moiré chirality, leading to both the enhanced magneto‐optical chiral transmission and the nonreciprocal spin isolation. Under the magnetic field varying from −0.26 to +0.26 T in the experiment, the MMG achieves an active modulation of circular dichroism from 39 to −37.5 dB and optical activity from −35° to 30°. Moreover, the maximum spin isolation over 32.6 dB is also obtained near 0.5 THz. This mechanism provide a new way to realize independent manipulation and active modulation of THz spin photons more flexibly.

Enhanced magnon transport through an amorphous magnetic insulator

Conduction of spin currents in disordered insulating antiferromagnets has recently been at the center of scientific debate with both long-range spin transport or no spin transport at all observed experimentally. In this study, ferromagnetic resonance has been used to probe the transmission of ac spin current through thin amorphous yttrium iron garnet (YIG) layers. The spin current is found to be mediated by evanescent spin waves with a penetration length four times larger than that of previous studies of amorphous YIG, even exceeding the spin penetration length of crystalline NiO. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Lateral semiconductor magnonics: an array of GaAs stripes atop the YIG layer

In this work, we demonstrate the numerical and experimental research of the spin-wave transport in a structure composed of a gallium arsenide (GaAs) stripe lattice interfaced to an yttrium iron garnet layer. We show that this structure can be considered as an array of an infinite number of laterally coupled ferrite-semiconductor waveguides. We show that the surface wave properties for colinear propagation along the semiconductor stripes are similar to the waves in magnetic films with partial metallization. In addition, the properties of these surface waves depend on the electron concentration of the GaAs and thus may be tuned. With regard to the wave propagation at a certain angle to the GaAs stripe lattice, the Bragg resonance forms and the corresponding band gap depend on the angle between the wave to the stripes and on the GaAs electron density. The Brillouin light scattering technique was used to experimentally observe the spin-wave beam transformation, and microwave measurements support the numerical data and reveal the mechanism of the dip formation and widening of the frequency range in the spin-wave transmission. The proposed structure could be used as a reconfigurable metasurface and magnonic beam separation unit.

Breggovskie rezonansy v mul'tiferroidnom kristalle s dvoynoy nelineynost'yu

The influence of double (electrical and magnetic) nonlinearity on the Bragg resonances of the hybrid electromagnetic-spin waves in a multiferroic crystal has been theoretically and experimentally revealed. The multiferroic crystal consists of an yttrium iron garnet layer with a periodic system of grooves on the surface and a ferroelectric strontium–barium titanate layer. A dispersion relation for the hybrid waves is obtained, and the mechanism of formation of main and hybrid band gaps, namely, suppression bands, is revealed. It is shown that taking into account the magnetic nonlinearity leads to frequency rearrangement of both band gaps and taking into account the electrical nonlinearity leads to frequency rearrangement of only the hybrid band gap. In the general case, the effects of the electrical and magnetic nonlinearities on the hybrid band gap can be compensated.

Tunable all-optical microwave logic gates based on nonreciprocal topologically protected edge modes

All-optical logic gates have been studied intensively owing to their potential to enable broadband, low-loss and high-speed communications. However, poor tunability has remained a key challenge in this field. In this work, we propose a Y-shaped structure composed of Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) layers that can serve as tunable all-optical logic gates, including, but not limited to, OR, AND and NOT gates, by applying external magnetic fields to magnetize the YIG layers. Our findings reveal that these logic gates are founded on protected one-way edge modes, where by tuning the wavenumber k of the operating mode to a sufficiently small (or even zero) value, the gates can become nearly immune to nonlocal effects. This not only enhances their reliability but also allows for maintaining extremely high precision in their operations. Furthermore, the operating band itself of the logic gates is also shown to be tunable. We introduce a straightforward and practical method for controlling and switching these gates between "work", "skip", and "stop" modes. These findings have potentially significant implications for the design of high-performance and robust all-optical microwave communication systems.

Bilayer Magnetoplasmonic Grating for Enhancement of the Transverse Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect and Dual Sensing Performance by Surface Plasmon Resonance

Magnetoplasmonic nanostructures with magnetic and metallic compositions have received considerable attention because they can greatly enhance the transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect (T-MOKE) due to surface plasmon resonance (SPR) excitations, which can be used to realize extremely high detection performance. Here, a bilayer heterogeneous grating is proposed that comprises gold and cerium-substituted yttrium iron garnet layers on a gold film for remarkable SPR enhancement of the T-MOKE. Numerical simulations via the finite element method indicated that the proposed structure substantially improves the sensing performance of the incident angle and wavelength with high detection sensitivity and a figure of merit that is an order of magnitude better than previously reported results. Moreover, the proposed structure can be used to fabricate devices for sensing gaseous media.

Giant sensitivity to magnetic field variation in the spin wave interferometer based on the system of exchange-coupled films of yttrium iron garnet

In this work, we present experimental data on the interference of backward volume magnetostatic wave (BVMSW) counter-propagating in the structure with two exchange-coupled yttrium iron garnet layers. The layers are engineered to have different saturation magnetization that gives a possibility to BVMSW resonantly interacting with exchange modes of the two-layer structure. The BVMSW is excited by two antennas placed on top of the structure, while the third one placed between them is used for the detection of inductive voltage V generated by waves superposition. It is shown that maximal changes of the output inductive signal δV with the variation of magnetic field δH occur if, first, the waves interfere destructively and, second, the frequency corresponds to the resonant interaction of BVMSW with the exchange waves. In this case, obtained data reveal large sensitivity S = δV/δH approaching S ≈ 267 dB/Oe in the vicinity ±0.1 Oe of the resonant field H. The observed high sensitivity is of great importance for the development of compact sensitive magnetometers operating at room temperature.

Damping in yttrium iron garnet films with interface

We report strong damping enhancement in yttrium iron garnet (YIG) film due to spin inhomogeneity at the interface. The growth-induced thin interfacial gadolinium iron garnet (GdIG) layer antiferromagnetically (AFM) exchange couples with the top YIG layer. The out-of-plane angular variation of ferromagnetic resonance linewidth $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}H$ reflects a large inhomogeneous distribution of the effective magnetization $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}4\ensuremath{\pi}{M}_{\mathrm{eff}}$ due to the presence of the aforementioned AFM exchange coupling between the interfacial-GdIG and top-YIG layer. We probe the spin inhomogeneity at the YIG-GdIG interface by performing an in-plane angular variation of resonance field ${H}_{r}$, leading to a unidirectional feature. The large extrinsic $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}4\ensuremath{\pi}{M}_{\mathrm{eff}}$ contribution, apart from the inherent intrinsic Gilbert contribution, manifests enhanced precessional damping in the YIG film.

On the fabrication of one-dimensional magnetophotonic crystals from various oxides and metal–organic decomposition-made Bi0.5Y2.5Fe5O12

We demonstrate an approach for the fabrication of one-dimensional magnetophotonic crystals (1D MPCs) that are composed of electron beam evaporation-deposited Bragg mirrors (BMs) and a bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet layer made by metal–organic decomposition. Since such a garnet layer is crystallized at high temperatures, changes in structural and optical properties of BMs caused by annealing are studied. By subjecting single layers of SiO2, HfO2, ZrO2, and Ta2O5 to annealing, we found changes in their optical constants and thicknesses and interpreted stop band shifts in spectra of BMs. The ZrO2/SiO2 pair was found to be resistant to annealing and was used for 1D MPC fabrication. The resulting 1D MPCs were shown to exhibit Faraday rotation enhancement by an order of magnitude at a wavelength of the Fabry–Perot resonance.

Room temperature magnetization dynamics of Y3Fe5O12 films capped with a Cr2O3 layer

Spin-transport across antiferromagnetic insulators (AFMIs) is a novel way to reduce power consumption in pure spin current based devices. In this paper, room temperature magnetization dynamics of Yttrium-Iron-Garnet (YIG) interfaced with an AFMI Cr2O3 has been investigated in order to study the spin transport across the AFMI. After capping with 20 nm thick Cr2O3, the Gilbert damping parameter of YIG layer is not changed enormously as compared to the non-capped sample. Cr2O3 of 20 nm thickness is in a spin disordered state at room temperature due to finite size scaling effect. So, it was expected that the spin current from YIG layer can be transmitted through the Cr2O3 layer. However, due to large spin diffusion length and large domain size of Cr2O3 (>20 nm), spin current cannot lose its angular momentum during propagation in Cr2O3 as a result of which, no change in Gilbert damping parameter is noticed. This observation will pave a way for further investigation of spin current transport across AFMIs.

Tunable Magnetoacoustic Oscillator with Low Phase Noise

A frequency-tunable low-phase-noise magnetoacoustic resonator is developed on the base of a parallel-plate straight-edge bilayer consisting of an yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG) layer grown on a substrate of a gallium gadolinium garnet (GGG). When a YIG-GGG sample forms an ideal parallel plate, it supports a series of high-quality-factor acoustic modes standing along the plate thickness. Due to the magnetostriction of the YIG layer the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) mode of the YIG layer can strongly interact with the acoustic thickness modes of the YIG-GGG structure, when the modes' frequencies match. A particular acoustic thickness mode used for the resonance excitations of the hybrid magnetoacoustic oscillations in a YIG-GGG bilayer is chosen by the YIG-layer FMR frequency, which can be tuned by the variation of the external bias magnetic field. A composite scheme of a magnetoacoustic oscillator, which includes a FMR-based resonance preselector, is developed to guarantee satisfaction of the Barkhausen criteria for a single-acoustic-mode oscillation regime. The developed low-phase-noise composite magnetoacoustic oscillator can be tuned from 0.84 to 1 GHz with an increment of about 4.773 MHz (frequency distance between the adjacent acoustic thickness modes in a YIG-GGG parallel plate), and demonstrates the phase noise of $\ensuremath{-}116$ dBc/Hz at the offset frequency of 10 kHz.

Magnon hybridization in ferrimagnetic heterostructures

We study magnon hybridization in a ferrimagnetic heterostructure consisting of ultrathin gadolinium iron garnet and yttrium iron garnet layers and show the localized and extended spatial profiles of the magnon modes with different polarizations. These modes are expected to have distinct thermal excitation properties in the presence of a temperature gradient across the heterostructure. From a quantitative analysis of their consequences on longitudinal spin Seebeck effect, we predict an observable shift of the sign-changing temperature with respect to the one previously observed in gadolinium iron garnet. Moreover, the sign-changing point of spin Seebeck signal is found to be tunable by YIG thickness. Our results suggest the necessity of taking into account the temperature difference between the magnon modes in ferrimagnetic heterostructures.

Enhanced Spin Seebeck Effect: Enhanced Spin Seebeck Effect in Monolayer Tungsten Diselenide Due to Strong Spin Current Injection at Interface (Adv. Funct. Mater. 35/2020)

In article number 2003192, Sang-Kwon Lee and co-workers show that the insertion of monolayer WSe2 between the Pt and yttrium iron (YIG) garnet layers significantly enhances the thermopower, VLSSE/ΔT by a factor of approximately 5.6 compared with that of the Pt/YIG reference sample. This enhancement can be explained by the increased spin-to-charge conversion at the interface owing to the large spin-orbit coupling and improved spin mixing conductance with the monolayer WSe2 intermediate layer.

Enhanced Spin Seebeck Effect in Monolayer Tungsten Diselenide Due to Strong Spin Current Injection at Interface

AbstractThe spin current is significantly limited by the spin‐orbit interaction strength, material quality, and spin‐mixing conductance at material interfaces. Such limitations lead to spin current decay at the interfaces, which severely hinders potential applications in spin‐current‐generating thermoelectric devices. Thus, methodical studies on the enhancement of spin currents are indispensable. Herein, a novel approach for enhancing the spin current injected into a normal metal, Pt, using interface effects with a ferromagnetic insulator, yttrium iron garnet (YIG), is demonstrated. This is accomplished by inserting atomically thin monolayer (ML), tungsten diselenide (WSe2) between Pt and YIG layers. A comparative study of longitudinal spin Seebeck effect (LSSE) measurements is conducted. Two types of ML WSe2 (continuous and large‐area ML WSe2 and isolated ML WSe2 flakes) are used as intermediate layers on YIG film. Notably, the insertion of ML WSe2 between the Pt and YIG layers significantly enhances the thermopower, VLSSE/ΔT by a factor of approximately 5.6 compared with that of the Pt/YIG reference sample. This enhancement in the measured LSSE voltages in the Pt/ML WSe2/YIG trilayer can be explained by the increased spin‐to‐charge conversion at the interface owing to the large spin‐orbit coupling and improved spin mixing conductance with the ML WSe2 intermediate layer.

Continuous ferrimagnetic Y3Fe5O12 layers on the ceramic PbZr0·45Ti0·55O3 substrates

For the first time, continuous layers of yttrium iron garnet (YIG, Y3Fe5O12) with a thickness of about 2 μm were synthesized on ferroelectric ceramic substrates based on lead titanate zirconate (PZT, PbZr0·45Ti0·55O3). The Y3Fe5O12 layer was deposited by ion-beam sputtering – deposition on PZT substrates of 400 μm thick by sputtering a polycrystalline target of the composition Y3Fe5O12 with a mixture of argon and oxygen ions. Due to preliminary planarization of the PZT surface with a TiO2 layer, a high-quality plane-parallel YIG/PZT interface was obtained, which is confirmed by scanning electron microscopy in combination with the focused ion beam technique. Atomic force microscopy showed that planarization makes it possible to achieve surface smoothness of 10 nm.The YIG/PZT heterostructures obtained in this work are potentially attractive for use in logic circuits based on low-scattering spin waves, memory elements, as well as electrically controlled microwave devices.

A nonlocal spin Hall magnetoresistance in a platinum layer deposited on a magnon junction

Magnetoresistance effects are used in a variety of devices including hard disk drives and magnetic random access memories. In particular, giant magnetoresistance and tunnelling magnetoresistance can be used to create spin valves and tunnel junctions in which the resistance depends on the relative magnetization orientations of two ferromagnetic conducting layers. Here, we report a magnetoresistance effect that occurs in a platinum layer deposited on a magnon junction consisting of two insulating magnetic yttrium iron garnet (YIG) layers separated by an antiferromagnetic nickel oxide spacer layer. The resistance of the platinum layer is found to depend on the magnetization of the YIG layer in direct contact with it (an effect known as spin Hall magnetoresistance), but also the magnetization of the adjacent YIG layer in the junction. The resistance of the platinum layer is higher when the two YIG layers are aligned antiparallel than when parallel. We assign this behaviour to a magnonic nonlocal spin Hall magnetoresistance in which spin-carrying magnon propagation across the junction affects spin accumulation at the metal interface and hence modulates the spin Hall magnetoresistance. The effect could be used to develop spintronic and magnonic devices that have spin transport properties controlled by an all-insulating magnon junction and are thus free from Joule heating. A magnetoresistance effect that occurs in a platinum layer deposited on a magnon junction consisting of two insulating magnetic yttrium iron garnet layers separated by an antiferromagnetic nickel oxide spacer layer could be used to create spintronic and magnonic devices that are free from Joule heating.