Tailoring crosstalk between localized 1D spin-wave nanochannels using focused ion beams.

1D spin-wave conduits are envisioned as nanoscale components of magnonics-based logic and computing schemes for future generation electronics. À-la-carte methods of versatile control of the local magnetization dynamics in such nanochannels are highly desired for efficient steering of the spin waves in magnonic devices. Here, we present a study of localized dynamical modes in 1-[Formula: see text]m-wide permalloy conduits probed by microresonator ferromagnetic resonance technique. We clearly observe the lowest-energy edge mode in the microstrip after its edges were finely trimmed by means of focused Ne[Formula: see text] ion irradiation. Furthermore, after milling the microstrip along its long axis by focused ion beams, creating consecutively [Formula: see text]50 and [Formula: see text]100 nm gaps, additional resonances emerge and are attributed to modes localized at the inner edges of the separated strips. To visualize the mode distribution, spatially resolved Brillouin light scattering microscopy was used showing an excellent agreement with the ferromagnetic resonance data and confirming the mode localization at the outer/inner edges of the strips depending on the magnitude of the applied magnetic field. Micromagnetic simulations confirm that the lowest-energy modes are localized within [Formula: see text]15-nm-wide regions at the edges of the strips and their frequencies can be tuned in a wide range (up to 5 GHz) by changing the magnetostatic coupling (i.e., spatial separation) between the microstrips.

Resonance-Based Sensing of Magnetic Nanoparticles Using Microfluidic Devices with Ferromagnetic Antidot Nanostructures.

We demonstrated resonance-based detection of magnetic nanoparticles employing novel designs based upon planar (on-chip) microresonators that may serve as alternatives to conventional magnetoresistive magnetic nanoparticle detectors. We detected 130 nm sized magnetic nanoparticle clusters immobilized on sensor surfaces after flowing through PDMS microfluidic channels molded using a 3D printed mold. Two detection schemes were investigated: (i) indirect detection incorporating ferromagnetic antidot nanostructures within microresonators, and (ii) direct detection of nanoparticles without an antidot lattice. Using scheme (i), magnetic nanoparticles noticeably downshifted the resonance fields of an antidot nanostructure by up to 207 G. In a similar antidot device in which nanoparticles were introduced via droplets rather than a microfluidic channel, the largest shift was only 44 G with a sensitivity of 7.57 G/ng. This indicated that introduction of the nanoparticles via microfluidics results in stronger responses from the ferromagnetic resonances. The results for both devices demonstrated that ferromagnetic antidot nanostructures incorporated within planar microresonators can detect nanoparticles captured from dispersions. Using detection scheme (ii), without the antidot array, we observed a strong resonance within the nanoparticles. The resonance's strength suggests that direct detection is more sensitive to magnetic nanoparticles than indirect detection using a nanostructure, in addition to being much simpler.

Spin-Wave Channeling in Magnetization-Graded Nanostrips.

Magnetization-graded ferromagnetic nanostrips are proposed as potential prospects to channel spin waves. Here, a controlled reduction of the saturation magnetization enables the localization of the propagating magnetic excitations in the same way that light is controlled in an optical fiber with a varying refraction index. The theoretical approach is based on the dynamic matrix method, where the magnetic nanostrip is divided into small sub-strips. The dipolar and exchange interactions between sub-strips have been considered to reproduce the spin-wave dynamics of the magnonic fiber. The transition from one strip to an infinite thin film is presented for the Damon-Eshbach geometry, where the nature of the spin-wave modes is discussed. An in-depth analysis of the spin-wave transport as a function of the saturation magnetization profile is provided. It is predicted that it is feasible to induce a remarkable channeling of the spin waves along the zones with a reduced saturation magnetization, even when such a reduction is tiny. The results are compared with micromagnetic simulations, where a good agreement is observed between both methods. The findings have relevance for envisioned future spin-wave-based magnonic devices operating at the nanometer scale.

Resonance behavior of embedded and freestanding microscale ferromagnets.

The ferromagnetic resonance of a disordered A2 Fe60Al40 ferromagnetic stripe, of dimensions 5 µm × 1 µm × 32 nm, has been observed in two vastly differing surroundings: in the first case, the ferromagnetic region was surrounded by ordered B2 Fe60Al40, and in the second case it was free standing, adhering only to the oxide substrate. The embedded ferromagnet possesses a periodic magnetic domain structure, which transforms to a single domain structure in the freestanding case. The two cases differ in their dynamic response, for instance, the resonance field for the uniform (k = 0) mode at ~ 14 GHz excitation displays a shift from 209 to 194 mT, respectively for the embedded and freestanding cases, with the external magnetic field applied along the long axis. The resonant behavior of a microscopic ferromagnet can thus be finely tailored via control of its near-interfacial surrounding.

Highly Tunable Magnetic and Magnetotransport Properties of Exchange Coupled Ferromagnet/Antiferromagnet-Based Heterostructures.

Antiferromagnets (AFMs) with zero net magnetization are proposed as active elements in future spintronic devices. Depending on the critical film thickness and measurement temperature, bimetallic Mn-based alloys and transition-metal oxide-based AFMs can host various coexisting ordered, disordered, and frustrated AFM phases. Such coexisting phases in the exchange coupled ferromagnetic (FM)/AFM-based heterostructures can result in unusual magnetic and magnetotransport phenomena. Here, we integrate chemically disordered AFM γ-IrMn3 thin films with coexisting AFM phases into complex exchange coupled MgO(001)/γ-Ni3Fe/γ-IrMn3/γ-Ni3Fe/CoO heterostructures and study the structural, magnetic, and magnetotransport properties in various magnetic field cooling states. In particular, we unveil the impact of rotating the relative orientation of the thermally disordered and reversible AFM moments with respect to the irreversible AFM moments on the magnetic and magnetotransport properties of the exchange coupled heterostructures. We further reveal that the persistence of thermally disordered and reversible AFM moments is crucial for achieving highly tunable magnetic properties and multilevel magnetoresistance states. We anticipate that the presented approach and the heterostructure architecture can be utilized in future spintronic devices to manipulate the thermally disordered and reversible AFM moments at the nanoscale.

Visualizing Magnetic Structure in 3D Nanoscale Ni-Fe Gyroid Networks.

Arrays of interacting 2D nanomagnets display unprecedented electromagnetic properties via collective effects, demonstrated in artificial spin ices and magnonic crystals. Progress toward 3D magnetic metamaterials is hampered by two challenges: fabricating 3D structures near intrinsic magnetic length scales (sub-100 nm) and visualizing their magnetic configurations. Here, we fabricate and measure nanoscale magnetic gyroids, periodic chiral networks comprising nanowire-like struts forming three-connected vertices. Via block copolymer templating, we produce Ni75Fe25 single-gyroid and double-gyroid (an inversion pair of single-gyroids) nanostructures with a 42 nm unit cell and 11 nm diameter struts, comparable to the exchange length in Ni-Fe. We visualize their magnetization distributions via off-axis electron holography with nanometer spatial resolution and interpret the patterns using finite-element micromagnetic simulations. Our results suggest an intricate, frustrated remanent state which is ferromagnetic but without a unique equilibrium configuration, opening new possibilities for collective phenomena in magnetism, including 3D magnonic crystals and unconventional computing.

Magnetization Dynamics of an Individual Single-Crystalline Fe-Filled Carbon Nanotube.

The magnetization dynamics of individual Fe-filled multiwall carbon-nanotubes (FeCNT), grown by chemical vapor deposition, are investigated by microresonator ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) and Brillouin light scattering (BLS) microscopy and corroborated by micromagnetic simulations. Currently, only static magnetometry measurements are available. They suggest that the FeCNTs consist of a single-crystalline Fe nanowire throughout the length. The number and structure of the FMR lines and the abrupt decay of the spin-wave transport seen in BLS indicate, however, that the Fe filling is not a single straight piece along the length. Therefore, a stepwise cutting procedure is applied in order to investigate the evolution of the ferromagnetic resonance lines as a function of the nanowire length. The results show that the FeCNT is indeed not homogeneous along the full length but is built from 300 to 400 nm long single-crystalline segments. These segments consist of magnetically high quality Fe nanowires with almost the bulk values of Fe and with a similar small damping in relation to thin films, promoting FeCNTs as appealing candidates for spin-wave transport in magnonic applications.

Strain-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and Gilbert damping of Tm3Fe5O12 thin films.

In the attempt of implementing iron garnets with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in spintronics, the attention turned towards strain-grown iron garnets. One candidate is Tm3Fe5O12 (TmIG) which possesses an out-of-plane magnetic easy axis when grown under tensile strain. In this study, the effect of film thickness on the structural and magnetic properties of TmIG films including magnetic anisotropy, saturation magnetization, and Gilbert damping is investigated. TmIG films with thicknesses between 20 and 300 nm are epitaxially grown by pulsed laser deposition on substituted-Gd3Ga5O12(111) substrates. Structural characterization shows that films thinner than 200 nm show in-plane tensile strain, thus exhibiting PMA due to strain-induced magnetoelastic anisotropy. However, with increasing film thickness a relaxation of the unit cell is observed resulting in the rotation of the magnetic easy axis towards the sample plane due to the dominant shape anisotropy. Furthermore, the Gilbert damping parameter is found to be in the range of 0.02 ± 0.005.

Programmability of Co-antidot lattices of optimized geometry.

Programmability of stable magnetization configurations in a magnetic device is a highly desirable feature for a variety of applications, such as in magneto-transport and spin-wave logic. Periodic systems such as antidot lattices may exhibit programmability; however, to achieve multiple stable magnetization configurations the lattice geometry must be optimized. We consider the magnetization states in Co-antidot lattices of ≈50 nm thickness and ≈150 nm inter-antidot distance. Micromagnetic simulations were applied to investigate the magnetization states around individual antidots during the reversal process. The reversal processes predicted by micromagnetics were confirmed by experimental observations. Magnetization reversal in these antidots occurs via field driven transition between 3 elementary magnetization states - termed G, C and Q. These magnetization states can be described by vectors, and the reversal process proceeds via step-wise linear operations on these vector states. Rules governing the co-existence of the three magnetization states were empirically observed. It is shown that in an n × n antidot lattice, a variety of field switchable combinations of G, C and Q can occur, indicating programmability of the antidot lattices.

Reduction of phase noise in nanowire spin orbit torque oscillators.

Spin torque oscillators (STOs) are compact, tunable sources of microwave radiation that serve as a test bed for studies of nonlinear magnetization dynamics at the nanometer length scale. The spin torque in an STO can be created by spin-orbit interaction, but low spectral purity of the microwave signals generated by spin orbit torque oscillators hinders practical applications of these magnetic nanodevices. Here we demonstrate a method for decreasing the phase noise of spin orbit torque oscillators based on Pt/Ni80Fe20 nanowires. We experimentally demonstrate that tapering of the nanowire, which serves as the STO active region, significantly decreases the spectral linewidth of the generated signal. We explain the observed linewidth narrowing in the framework of the Ginzburg-Landau auto-oscillator model. The model reveals that spatial non-uniformity of the spin current density in the tapered nanowire geometry hinders the excitation of higher order spin-wave modes, thus stabilizing the single-mode generation regime. This non-uniformity also generates a restoring force acting on the excited self-oscillatory mode, which reduces thermal fluctuations of the mode spatial position along the wire. Both these effects improve the STO spectral purity.

Quantitative imaging of the magnetic configuration of modulated nanostructures by electron holography.

By means of off-axis electron holography the local distribution of the magnetic induction within and around a poly-crystalline Permalloy (Ni81Fe19) thin film is studied. In addition the stray field above the sample is measured by magnetic force microscopy on a larger area. The film is deposited on a periodically nanostructured (rippled) Si substrate, which was formed by Xe(+) ion beam erosion. This introduces the periodical ripple shape to the Permalloy film. The created ripple morphology is expected to modify the magnetization distribution within the Permalloy and to induce dipolar stray fields. These stray fields play an important role in spinwave dynamics of periodic nanostructures like magnonic crystals. Micromagnetic simulations estimate those stray fields in the order of only 10 mT. Consequently, their experimental determination at nanometer spatial resolution is highly demanding and requires advanced acquisition and reconstruction techniques such as electron holography. The reconstructed magnetic phase images show the magnetized thin film, in which the magnetization direction follows mainly the given morphology. Furthermore, a closer look to the Permalloy/carbon interface reveals stray fields at the detection limit of the method in the order of 10 mT, which is in qualitative agreement with the micromagnetic simulations.

Simultaneous measurement of anisotropic magnetoresistance and observation of magnetic domains by Kerr microscopy.

We report on a new instrument, which consists of a Kerr microscope combined with resistance measurements. This setup allows for the recording of magnetic domains while measuring the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR). For this purpose the development of a special sample holder and the extension of the measurement software was required. The sample holder is equipped with electrical contacts in such a way to apply a current, measure the voltage, and use it in the Kerr microscope. The extension of the measurement software enables the recording of resistance and Kerr images simultaneous. The new setup allows for a better microscopic understanding of the AMR behavior.