Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna（维也纳大学物理学院）；Vienna Doctoral School in Physics, University of Vienna（维也纳大学物理博士学院）；INNOVENT e.V. Technologieentwicklung（INNOVENT技术发展有限公司）
Rostyslav O. Serha, Carsten Dubs, Andrii V. Chumak
Quantum magnonics studies the quantum properties of magnons, the quanta of spin waves, and their application in quantum information processing. Progress in this field depends on identifying magnetic materials with characteristics tailored to the diverse requirements of magnonics and quantum magnonics. For single-magnon excitation, its control, hybrid coupling, and entanglement, the most critical property is the ability to support long magnon lifetimes. This perspective reviews established and emerging magnetic materials, including ferromagnetic metals, Heusler compounds, antiferromagnets, altermagnets, organic and 2D van der Waals magnets, hexaferrites, europium chalcogenides, and in particular yttrium iron garnet (YIG), highlighting their key characteristics. YIG remains the benchmark, with bulk crystals supporting sub-microsecond Kittel-mode lifetimes and ultra-pure spheres achieving $\sim18\,μ$s for dipolar-exchange magnons at millikelvin temperatures. However, thin YIG films on gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrates suffer from severe lifetime reduction due to substrate-induced losses. In contrast, YIG films on a new lattice matched, diamagnetic alternative, yttrium scandium gallium/aluminum garnet (YSGAG), overcomes these limitations and preserves low magnetic damping down to millikelvin temperatures. These advances provide a practical pathway toward ultralong-living magnons in thin films, enabling scalable quantum magnonics with coherent transport, strong magnon-photon, magnon-qubit coupling, and integrated quantum networks.
By means of the plane wave method, we study nonuniform, i.e., mode- and k-dependent, effects in the spin-wave spectrum of a two-dimensional bicomponent magnonic crystal. We use the crystal based on a hexagonal lattice squeezed in the direction of the external magnetic field wherein the squeezing applies to the lattice and the shape of inclusions. The squeezing changes both the demagnetizing field and the spatial confinement of the excitation, which may lead to the occurrence of an omnidirectional magnonic band gaps. In particular, we study the role played by propagational effects, which allows…
We show that periodic magnetic nanostructures (magnonic crystals) represent an ideal system for studying excitations on disordered periodical lattices because of the possibility of controlled variation of the degree of disorder by varying the applied magnetic field. Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) data collected inside minor hysteresis loops for a periodic array of Permalloy nanowires of alternating width and magnetic force microscopy images of the array taken after running each of these loops were used to establish convincing evidence that there is a strong correlation between the type of FMR r…
We report the development of a hybrid numerical / analytical model capable of mapping the spatially-varying distributions of the local ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) frequency and dynamic magnetic susceptibility in a wide class of patterned and compositionally modulated magnetic structures. Starting from the numerically simulated static micromagnetic state, the magnetization is deliberately deflected orthogonally to its equilibrium orientation, and the magnetic fields generated in response to this deflection are evaluated using micromagnetic software. This allows us to calculate the elements of…
The outlook for producing useful practical devices within the paradigm of magnonics rests on our ability to emit, control and detect coherent exchange spin waves on the nanoscale. Here, we argue that all these key functionalities can be delivered by chiral magnonic resonators - soft magnetic elements chirally coupled, via magneto-dipole interaction, to magnonic media nearby. Starting from the basic principles of chiral coupling, we outline how they could be used to construct devices and explore underpinning physics, ranging from basic logic gates to field programmable gate arrays, in-memory co…
Spin wave, the collective excitation of magnetic order, is one of the fundamental angular momentum carriers in magnetic systems. Understanding the spin wave propagation in magnetic textures lies in the heart of developing pure magnetic information processing schemes. Here we show that the spin wave propagation across a chiral domain wall follows simple geometric trajectories, similar to the geometric optics. And the geometric behaviors are qualitatively different in normally magnetized film and tangentially magnetized film. We identify the lateral shift, refraction, and total reflection of spi…
Various latest experiments have proven the theoretical prediction that domain walls in planar magnetic structures can channel spin waves as outstanding magnonic waveguides, establishing a superb platform for building magnonic devices. Recently, three-dimensional nanomagnetism has been boosted up and become a significant branch of magnetism, because three-dimensional magnetic structures expose a lot of emerging physics hidden behind planar ones and will inevitably provide broader room for device engineering. Skyrmions and antiSkyrmions, as natural three-dimensional magnetic configurations, are …
The interplay between spin wave and magnetic texture represents the information exchange between the fast and slow dynamical parts of magnetic systems. Here we formulate a set of magnonic torques acting on background magnetic texture, by extracting time-invariant information from the fast precessing spin waves. Under the frame of magnonic torques, we use theoretical formulations and micromagnetic simulations to investigate the spin wave driven domain wall motion in two typical symmetry-breaking situations: the rotational symmetry broken by the Dzyaloshinkii-Moriya interaction, and the translat…
The magnetization dynamics in nanostructures has been extensively studied in the last decades, and nanomagnetism has evolved significantly over that time, discovering new effects, developing numerous applications, and identifying promising new directions. This includes magnonics, an emerging research field oriented on the study of spin-wave dynamics and their applications. In this context, thin ferromagnetic films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) offer interesting opportunities to study spin waves, in particular, due to out-of-plane magnetization in remanence or at relatively weak …
The spin wave transportation through a transverse magnetic domain wall (DW) in a magnetic nanowire is studied. It is found that spin wave passes through a DW without reflection. A magnon, the quantum of the spin wave, carries opposite spins on the two sides of the DW. As a result, there is a spin angular momentum transfer from the propagating magnons to the DW. This magnonic spin-transfer torque can efficiently drive a DW to propagate in the opposite direction to that of the spin wave.
Recent studies have revealed that domain walls in magnetic nanostructures can serve as compact, energy-efficient spin-wave waveguides for building magnonic devices that are considered promising candidates for overcoming the challenges and bottlenecks of today's CMOS technologies. However, imprinting long strip-domain walls into magnetic nanowires remains a challenge, especially in curved geometries. Here, through micromagnetic simulations, we present a method for writing strip-domain walls into curved magnetic nanowires using spin-orbit torque. We employ Y-shaped magnetic nanostructures as wel…
The frequencies and linewidths of spin waves in a two-dimensional periodic superlattice of magnetic materials are found, using the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equations. The form of the exchange field from a surface-torque-free boundary between magnetic materials is derived, and magnetic-material combinations are identified which produce gaps in the magnonic spectrum across the entire superlattice Brillouin zone for hexagonal and square-symmetry superlattices.
Nanometric magnonic and spintronic devices need magnetic field control in addition to conventional electronic control. In this work we review ways to replace magnetic field control by an electronic one in order to circumvent appearance of stray magnetic fields or the difficulty of creating large magnetic fields over nanometric distances. Voltage control is compared to current control and corresponding devices are compared from their energetic efficiency point of view.
A theory of three-dimensional (3D) hypothetical magnonic crystal (conceived as the magnetic counterpart of the well-known photonic crystal) is developed and applied to explain the existence of a spin-wave frequency gap recently revealed in low-doped manganites $La_{1-x}Ca_{x}MnO_{3}$ by neutron scattering. A successful confrontation with the experimental results allows us to formulate a working hypothesis that certain manganites could be regarded as 3D magnonic crystals existing in nature.
The Stern-Gerlach (SG) effect is well known as the spin-dependent splitting of a beam of atoms carrying magnetic moments by a magnetic-field gradient, leading to the concept of electron spin. Antiferromagnets can accommodate two magnon modes with opposite spin polarizations, which is equivalent to the spin property of electrons. Here, we propose the existence of an all-magnonic SG effect in antiferromagnetic magnonic system, where a linearly polarized spin-wave beam is deflected by a straight Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) interface into two opposite polarized spin-wave beams propagat…
Quantum technology has made tremendous strides over the past two decades with remarkable advances in materials engineering, circuit design and dynamic operation. In particular, the integration of different quantum modules has benefited from hybrid quantum systems, which provide an important pathway for harnessing the different natural advantages of complementary quantum systems and for engineering new functionalities. This review focuses on the current frontiers with respect to utilizing magnetic excitatons or magnons for novel quantum functionality. Magnons are the fundamental excitations of …
This study deals with the spin wave spectrum in magnetic macrostructure (composed of two ferromagnetic materials) showing a 3D periodicity: spherical ferromagnetic grains disposed in the nodes of a simple cubic crystal lattice are embedded in a matrix with different ferromagnetic properties. It is shown that the \textit{magnonic spectrum} of this composite structure exhibits frequency regions \textit{forbidden} for magnon propagation, and the energy gaps are found to be sensitive to the exchange contrast between the constituent materials as well as to the magnetization contrast. The widths of …
In this work, we study experimentally by broadband ferromagnetic resonance measurements, the dependence of the spin-wave excitation spectra on the magnetic applied field in CoFeB meander-shaped films. Two different orientations of the external magnetic field were explored, namely parallel or perpendicular to the lattice cores. The interpretation of the field dependence of the frequency and spatial profiles of major spin-wave modes were obtained by micromagnetic simulations. We show that the vertical segments lead to the easy-axis type of magnetic anisotropy and support the in-phase and out-of-…
Real magnonic crystals - periodic magnetic media for spin wave (magnon) propagation - may contain some defects. We report theoretical spin wave spectra of a one dimensional magnonic crystal with an isolated defect. The latter is modeled by insertion of an additional layer with thickness and magnetic anisotropy values different from those of the magnonic crystal constituent layers. The defect layer leads to appearance of several localized defect modes within the magnonic band gaps. The frequency and the number of the defect modes may be controlled by varying parameters of the constituent layers…
Theoretical studies, based on three independent techniques, of the band structure of a one-dimensional width-modulated magnonic crystal under a transverse magnetic field are reported. The band diagram is found to display distinct behaviors when the transverse field is either larger or smaller than a critical value. The widths and center positions of bandgaps exhibit unusual non-monotonic and large field-tunability through tilting the direction of magnetization. Some bandgaps can be dynamically switched on and off by simply tuning the strength of such a static field. Finally, the impact of the …
We establish a general formulation for spin current pumped by magnons at the interface between a normal metal and a magnetic insulator, valid for any non-collinear magnetic configuration in the linear spin wave regime. This current is generated by driving the system in a non-equilibrium state, covering setups such as thermal spin injection (spin Seebeck effect) or spin voltage by irradiation of the insulator (spin pumping). We illustrate the formula in the special case of a honeycomb topological ferromagnet, for simplicity, and cover both the spin Seebeck and spin-pumping setups. We show how t…
Although spin injection at room temperature in an IrMn metallic antiferromagnet strongly depends on the transport regime, and is more efficient in the case of magnonic transport, in this article, we present experimental data demonstrating that the enhanced efficiency of spin injection caused by spin fluctuations near the ordering temperature can be as efficient for the electronic and magnonic transport regimes. By selecting representative interacting environments, we also demonstrated that the amplification of spin injection near the ordering temperature of the IrMn antiferromagnet is independ…
The application of Brillouin light scattering to the study of the spin-wave spectrum of one- and two-dimensional planar magnonic crystals consisting of arrays of interacting stripes, dots and antidots is reviewed. It is shown that the discrete set of allowed frequencies of an isolated nanoelement becomes a finite-width frequency band for an array of identical interacting elements. It is possible to tune the permitted and forbidden frequency bands, modifying the geometrical or the material magnetic parameters, as well as the external magnetic field. From a technological point of view, the accur…
In this manuscript time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect experiments on structured CoFeB films are presented. The geometries considered are two dimensional square lattices of micrometer-sized antidots, fabricated by a focused ion beam. The spin-wave spectra of these magnonic crystals show a novel precessional mode, which can be related to a Bloch state at the zone boundary. Additionally, another magnetic mode of different nature appears, whose frequency displays no dependence on the externally applied magnetic field. These findings are interpreted as delocalized and localized modes, respec…
We have investigated multifunctional periodic structures in which electromagnetic waves and spin waves can be confined in the same areas. Such simultaneous localization of both sorts of excitations can potentially enhance the interaction between electromagnetic waves and spin waves. The system we considered has a form of one dimensional photonic-magnonic crystal with two types of magnetic layers (thicker and thinner ones) separated by sections of the dielectric photonic crystals. We focused on the electromagnetic defect modes localized in the magnetic layers (areas where spin waves can be exit…
Monolayer chromium trihalides, the archetypal two dimensional (2D) magnetic materials, are readily suggested as a promising platform for high frequency magnonics. Here we detail the spin wave properties of monolayer CrBr$_3$ and CrI$_3$, using spin dynamics simulations parametrized from the first principles. We reveal that spin wave dispersion can be tuned in a broad range of frequencies by strain, paving the way towards flexo magnonic applications. We further show that ever present halide vacancies in these monolayers host sufficiently strong Dzyaloshinskii Moriya interaction to scatter spin …
The spin excitations of ordered magnets - magnons - mediate transport in magnetic insulators. Their bosonic nature makes them qualitatively distinct from electrons. These features include quantum properties traditionally realized with photons. In this perspective, we present an intuitive discussion of one such phenomenon. Equilibrium magnon-squeezing manifests unique advantageous with magnons as compared to photons, including properties such as entanglement. Building upon the recent progress in the fields of spintronics and quantum optics, we outline challenges and opportunities in this emergi…
The information carrier of modern technologies is the electron charge whose transport inevitably generates Joule heating. Spin-waves, the collective precessional motion of electron spins, do not involve moving charges and thus avoid Joule heating. In this respect, magnonic devices in which the information is carried by spin-waves attract interest for low-power computing. However implementation of magnonic devices for practical use suffers from low spin-wave signal and on/off ratio. Here we demonstrate that cubic anisotropic materials can enhance spin-wave signals by improving spin-wave amplitu…
Applicability of dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS) in electronic devices relies upon the understanding and control of their magnetic anisotropy. This paper explores one of the ways in engineering magnetic anisotropy in epitaxial layers of DMS by forming them into magnonic structures. For this purpose the canonical ferromagnetic DMS, namely (Ga,Mn)As, is employed. The anti-dot systems based on (Ga,Mn)As layers of various thicknesses are fabricated with focused ion beam apparatus and studied by means of microscopy as well as magnetometry. The magnetometric data - collected along two nonequiva…
A new class of spin-transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) is discussed, in which writing is achieved using thermally initiated magnonic current pulses as an alternative to conventional electric current pulses. The magnonic pulses are used to destabilize the magnetic free layer from its initial direction, and are followed immediately by a bipolar electric current exerting conventional spin-transfer torque on the free layer. The combination of thermal and electric currents greatly reduces switching errors, and simultaneously reduces the electric switching current density by mo…
The design of spin-transport based devices such as magnon transistors or spin valves will require multilayer systems composed of different magnetic materials with different physical properties. Such layered structures can show various interface effects, one class of which being proximity effects, where a certain physical phenomenon that occurs in the one layers leaks into another one. In this work a magnetic proximity effect is studied in trilayers of different ferro- and antiferromagnetic materials within an atomistic spin model. We find the magnetic order in the central layer - with lower cr…
In an antiferromagnet (AF) with uniaxial anisotropy, spin-up and spin-down magnons coexist and form an intrinsic degree of freedom resembling electrons. When polarized by an adjacent ferromagnet (F), a magnonic pure spin current can be thermally generated in an AF. We explore thermal magnon transport in an insulating F/AF/F trilayer where propagating magnons inside the AF spacer can transfer angular momenta between the two Fs. We find that a sufficiently large temperature gradient can switch the downstream F via magnonic spin-transfer torque if it is initially antiparallel with the upstream F.…
Topological electronics has extended its richness to non-electronic systems where phonons and magnons can play the role of electrons. In particular, topological phases of magnons can be enabled by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) which acts as an effective spin-orbit coupling. We show that besides DMI, an alternating arrangement of Heisenberg exchange interactions critically determines the magnon band topology, realizing a magnonic analog of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. On a honeycomb ferromagnet with perpendicular anisotropy, we calculate the topological phase diagram, the chira…
A new genre of Spin-Transfer Torque (STT) MRAM is proposed, in which bi-directional writing is achieved using thermoelectrically controlled magnonic current as an alternative to conventional electric current. The device uses a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ), which is adjacent to a non-magnetic metallic and a ferrite film. This film stack is heated or cooled by a Peltier element which creates a bi-directional magnonic pulse in the ferrite film. Conversion of magnons to spin current occurs at the ferrite-metal interface, and the resulting spin-transfer torque is used to achieve sub-nanosecond pr…
Spin waves are the low-energy excitations of magnetically ordered materials. They are key elements in the stability analysis of the ordered phase and have a wealth of technological applications. Recently, we showed that spin waves of a magnetic nanowire may carry a definite amount of orbital angular momentum components along the propagation direction. This helical, in addition to the chiral, character of the spin waves is related to the spatial modulations of the spin wave phase across the wire. It, however, remains a challenge to generate and control such modes with conventional magnetic fiel…
Over the last decade, significant progresses have been achieved to create Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) of magnetic excitations, i.e., magnons, at the room temperature, which is a novel quantum many-body system with a strong spin-spin correlation, and contains potential applications in magnonic spintronics. For quantum information science, the magnonic condensates can become an attractive source of quantum entanglement, which plays a central role in most of the quantum information processing tasks. Here we theoretically study the entanglement properties of a magnon gas above and below the co…
We present a method for efficient spin wave guiding within the magnonic nanostructures. Our technique is based on the anomalous refraction in the metamaterial flat slab. The gradual change of the material parameters (saturation magnetization or magnetic anisotropy) across the slab allows tilting the wavefronts of the transmitted spin waves and controlling the refraction. Numerical studies of the spin wave refraction are preceded by the analytical calculations of the phase shift acquired by the spin wave due to the change of material parameters in a confined area. We demonstrate that our findin…
Novel material properties can be realized by designing waves' dispersion relations in artificial crystals. The crystal's structural length scales may range from nano- (light) up to centimeters (sound waves). Because of their emergent properties these materials are called metamaterials. Different to photonics, where the dielectric constant dominantly determines the index of refraction, in a ferromagnet the spin-wave index of refraction can be dramatically changed already by the magnetization direction. This allows a different flexibility in realizing dynamic wave guides or spin-wave switches. T…
We report broadband spectroscopy and numerical analysis by which we explore propagating spin waves in a magnetic bilayer consisting of a 23 nm thick permalloy film deposited on 130 nm thick $Y_{3}Fe_{5}O_{12}$. In the bilayer, we observe a characteristic mode that exhibits a considerably larger group velocity at small in-plane magnetic field than both the magnetostatic and perpendicular standing spin waves. Using the finite element method, we confirm the observations by simulating the mode profiles and dispersion relations. They illustrate the hybridization of spin wave modes due to exchange c…
Extending the notion of symmetry protected topological phases to insulating antiferromagnets (AFs) described in terms of opposite magnetic dipole moments associated with the magnetic N$\acute{\rm{e}} $el order, we establish a bosonic counterpart of topological insulators in semiconductors. Making use of the Aharonov-Casher effect, induced by electric field gradients, we propose a magnonic analog of the quantum spin Hall effect (magnonic QSHE) for edge states that carry helical magnons. We show that such up and down magnons form the same Landau levels and perform cyclotron motion with the same …
his study is an investigation of spin wave spectrum in macrostructures composed of two ferromagnetic materials and showing a 3D periodicity: spherical ferromagnetic grains disposed in the nodes of a 3D crystal lattice are embedded in a matrix with different ferromagnetic properties. Frequency ranges forbidden to spin wave propagation are found in the calculated magnonic spectra. Both the position and the width of the gaps are found to depend on the magnetic (exchange and magnetization) contrasts in the composite material, as well as on its structural parameters (filling fraction, crystal latti…
Electronic structure, magnetic interactions, and magnonics of 2D trichloride materials
Central Department of Physics, Tribhuvan University（特里布万大学物理中央系）；Graduate School of Science and Technology, Mid-West University（中西大学科学与技术研究生院）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa（爱荷华大学物理与天文学系）
We study theoretically the influence of the temperature and disorder on the spin wave spectrum of the magnonic crystal Fe$_{1-c}$Co$_{c}$. Our formalism is based on the analysis of a Heisenberg Hamiltonian by means of the wave vector and frequency dependent transverse magnetic susceptibility. The exchange integrals entering the model are obtained from the \emph{ab initio} magnetic force theorem. The coherent potential approximation is employed to treat the disorder and random phase approximation in order to account for the softening of the magnon spectrum at finite temperatures. The alloy turn…
RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau（凯泽斯劳滕-兰道莱布尼茨技术大学）；V. G. Baryakhtar Institute of Magnetism of the NAS of Ukraine（乌克兰国家科学院V.G.巴里亚赫塔尔磁学研究所）；Huazhong University of Science and Technology（华中科技大学）；INNOVENT e.V. Technologieentwicklung（INNOVENT技术开发协会）；Politecnico di Bari（巴里理工大学）；University of Messina（墨西拿大学）
Quantum information science and engineering requires novel low-loss magnetic materials for magnon-based quantum-coherent operations. The search for low-loss magnetic materials, traditionally driven by applications in microwave electronics near room-temperature, has gained additional constraints from the need to operate at cryogenic temperatures for many applications in quantum information science and technology. Whereas yttrium iron garnet (YIG) has been the material of choice for decades, the emergence of molecule-based materials with robust magnetism and ultra-low damping has opened new aven…
