Electrically Induced Angular Momentum Flow between Separated Ferromagnets.

Converting angular momentum between different degrees of freedom within a magnetic material results from a dynamic interplay between electrons, magnons, and phonons. This interplay is pivotal to implementing spintronic device concepts that rely on spin angular momentum transport. We establish a new concept for long-range angular momentum transport that further allows us to address and isolate the magnonic contribution to angular momentum transport in a nanostructured metallic ferromagnet. To this end, we electrically excite and detect spin transport between two parallel and electrically insulated ferromagnetic metal strips on top of a diamagnetic substrate. Charge-to-spin current conversion within the ferromagnetic strip generates electronic spin angular momentum that is transferred to magnons via electron-magnon coupling. We observe a finite angular momentum flow to the second ferromagnetic strip across a diamagnetic substrate over micron distances, which is electrically detected in the second strip by the inverse charge-to-spin current conversion process. We discuss phononic and dipolar interactions as the likely cause to transfer angular momentum between the two strips. Moreover, our Letter provides the experimental basis to separate the electronic and magnonic spin transport and thereby paves the way towards magnonic device concepts that do not rely on magnetic insulators.

Nonlinear losses in magnon transport due to four-magnon scattering.

We report on the impact of nonlinear four-magnon scattering on magnon transport in microstructured Co25Fe75 waveguides with low magnetic damping. We determine the magnon propagation length with microfocused Brillouin light scattering over a broad range of excitation powers and detect a decrease of the attenuation length at high powers. This is consistent with the onset of nonlinear four-magnon scattering. Hence, it is critical to stay in the linear regime, when deriving damping parameters from the magnon propagation length. Otherwise, the intrinsic nonlinearity of magnetization dynamics may lead to a misinterpretation of magnon propagation lengths and, thus, to incorrect values of the magnetic damping of the system.

High spin-wave propagation length consistent with low damping in a metallic ferromagnet.

We report ultralow intrinsic magnetic damping in Co25Fe75 heterostructures, reaching the low 10-4 regime at room temperature. By using a broadband ferromagnetic resonance technique in out-of-plane geometry, we extracted the dynamic magnetic properties of several Co25Fe75-based heterostructures with varying ferromagnetic layer thicknesses. By measuring radiative damping and spin pumping effects, we found the intrinsic damping of a 26 nm thick sample to be α 0 ≲ 3.18 × 10-4. Furthermore, using Brillouin light scattering microscopy, we measured spin-wave propagation lengths of up to (21 ± 1) µm in a 26 nm thick Co25Fe75 heterostructure at room temperature, which is in excellent agreement with the measured damping.