Deeply nonlinear excitation of self-normalized short spin waves.

Spin waves are ideal candidates for wave-based computing, but the construction of magnetic circuits is blocked by a lack of an efficient mechanism to excite long-running exchange spin waves with normalized amplitudes. Here, we solve the challenge by exploiting a deeply nonlinear phenomenon for forward volume spin waves in 200-nm-wide nanoscale waveguides and validate our concept using microfocused Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy. An unprecedented nonlinear frequency shift of more than 2 GHz is achieved, corresponding to a magnetization precession angle of 55° and enabling the excitation of spin waves with wavelengths down to 200 nm. The amplitude of the excited spin waves is constant and independent of the input microwave power due to the self-locking nonlinear shift, enabling robust adjustment of the spin-wave amplitudes in future on-chip magnonic integrated circuits.

Control of the Bose-Einstein Condensation of Magnons by the Spin Hall Effect.

Previously, it has been shown that rapid cooling of yttrium-iron-garnet-platinum nanostructures, preheated by an electric current sent through the Pt layer, leads to overpopulation of a magnon gas and to subsequent formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of magnons. The spin Hall effect (SHE), which creates a spin-polarized current in the Pt layer, can inject or annihilate magnons depending on the electric current and applied field orientations. Here we demonstrate that the injection or annihilation of magnons via the SHE can prevent or promote the formation of a rapid cooling-induced magnon BEC. Depending on the current polarity, a change in the BEC threshold of -8% and +6% was detected. These findings demonstrate a new method to control macroscopic quantum states, paving the way for their application in spintronic devices.

Inverse-design magnonic devices.

The field of magnonics offers a new type of low-power information processing, in which magnons, the quanta of spin waves, carry and process data instead of electrons. Many magnonic devices were demonstrated recently, but the development of each of them requires specialized investigations and, usually, one device design is suitable for one function only. Here, we introduce the method of inverse-design magnonics, in which any functionality can be specified first, and a feedback-based computational algorithm is used to obtain the device design. We validate this method using the means of micromagnetic simulations. Our proof-of-concept prototype is based on a rectangular ferromagnetic area that can be patterned using square-shaped voids. To demonstrate the universality of this approach, we explore linear, nonlinear and nonreciprocal magnonic functionalities and use the same algorithm to create a magnonic (de-)multiplexer, a nonlinear switch and a circulator. Thus, inverse-design magnonics can be used to develop highly efficient rf applications as well as Boolean and neuromorphic computing building blocks.

Spin-wave spectroscopy of individual ferromagnetic nanodisks.

The increasing demand for nanoscale magnetic devices requires development of 3D magnetic nanostructures. In this regard, focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) is a technique of choice for direct-writing of complex nano-architectures with applications in nanomagnetism, magnon spintronics, and superconducting electronics. However, intrinsic properties of nanomagnets are often poorly known and can hardly be assessed by local optical probe techniques. Here, an original spatially resolved approach is demonstrated for spin-wave spectroscopy of individual circular magnetic elements with sample volumes down to about 10-3 µm3. The key component of the setup is a coplanar waveguide whose microsized central part is placed over a movable substrate with well-separated CoFe-FEBID nanodisks which exhibit standing spin-wave resonances. The circular symmetry of the disks allows for the deduction of the saturation magnetization and the exchange stiffness of the material using an analytical theory. A good correspondence between the results of analytical calculations and micromagnetic simulations is revealed, indicating a validity of the used analytical model going beyond the initial thin-disk approximation used in the theoretical derivation. The presented approach is especially valuable for the characterization of direct-write magnetic elements opening new horizons for 3D nanomagnetism and magnonics.

Bose-Einstein condensation of quasiparticles by rapid cooling.

The fundamental phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation has been observed in different systems of real particles and quasiparticles. The condensation of real particles is achieved through a major reduction in temperature, while for quasiparticles, a mechanism of external injection of bosons by irradiation is required. Here, we present a new and universal approach to enable Bose-Einstein condensation of quasiparticles and to corroborate it experimentally by using magnons as the Bose-particle model system. The critical point to this approach is the introduction of a disequilibrium of magnons with the phonon bath. After heating to an elevated temperature, a sudden decrease in the temperature of the phonons, which is approximately instant on the time scales of the magnon system, results in a large excess of incoherent magnons. The consequent spectral redistribution of these magnons triggers the Bose-Einstein condensation.

Propagation of Spin-Wave Packets in Individual Nanosized Yttrium Iron Garnet Magnonic Conduits.

Modern-day CMOS-based computation technology is reaching its fundamental limitations. The emerging field of magnonics, which utilizes spin waves for data transport and processing, proposes a promising path to overcome these limitations. Different devices have been demonstrated recently on the macro- and microscale, but the feasibility of the magnonics approach essentially relies on the scalability of the structure feature size down to the extent of a few 10 nm, which are typical sizes for the established CMOS technology. Here, we present a study of propagating spin-wave packets in individual yttrium iron garnet (YIG) conduits with lateral dimensions down to 50 nm. Space and time-resolved microfocused Brillouin-light-scattering (BLS) spectroscopy is used to characterize the YIG nanostructures and measure the spin-wave decay length and group velocity directly. The revealed magnon transport at the scale comparable to the scale of CMOS proves the general feasibility of magnon-based data processing.

Control of Spin-Wave Propagation using Magnetisation Gradients.

We report that in an in-plane magnetised magnetic film the in-plane direction of a propagating spin wave can be changed by up to 90 degrees using an externally induced magnetic gradient field. We have achieved this result using a reconfigurable, laser-induced magnetisation gradient created in a conversion area, in which the backward volume and surface spin-wave modes coexist at the same frequency. Shape and orientation of the gradient control the conversion efficiency. Experimental data and numerical calculations agree very well. Our findings open the way to magnonic circuits with in-plane steering of the spin-wave modes.

Reconfigurable nanoscale spin-wave directional coupler.

Spin waves, and their quanta magnons, are prospective data carriers in future signal processing systems because Gilbert damping associated with the spin-wave propagation can be made substantially lower than the Joule heat losses in electronic devices. Although individual spin-wave signal processing devices have been successfully developed, the challenging contemporary problem is the formation of two-dimensional planar integrated spin-wave circuits. Using both micromagnetic modeling and analytical theory, we present an effective solution of this problem based on the dipolar interaction between two laterally adjacent nanoscale spin-wave waveguides. The developed device based on this principle can work as a multifunctional and dynamically reconfigurable signal directional coupler performing the functions of a waveguide crossing element, tunable power splitter, frequency separator, or multiplexer. The proposed design of a spin-wave directional coupler can be used both in digital logic circuits intended for spin-wave computing and in analog microwave signal processing devices.

Bottleneck Accumulation of Hybrid Magnetoelastic Bosons.

An ensemble of magnons, quanta of spin waves, can be prepared as a Bose gas of weakly interacting quasiparticles. Furthermore, the thermalization of the overpopulated magnon gas through magnon-magnon scattering processes, which conserve the number of particles, can lead to the formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate at the bottom of a spin-wave spectrum. However, magnon-phonon scattering can significantly modify this scenario and new quasiparticles are formed-magnetoelastic bosons. Our observations of a parametrically populated magnon gas in a single-crystal film of yttrium iron garnet by means of wave-vector-resolved Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy evidence a novel condensation phenomenon: A spontaneous accumulation of hybrid magnetoelastic bosonic quasiparticles at the intersection of the lowest magnon mode and a transversal acoustic wave.

Magnon transistor for all-magnon data processing.

An attractive direction in next-generation information processing is the development of systems employing particles or quasiparticles other than electrons--ideally with low dissipation--as information carriers. One such candidate is the magnon: the quasiparticle associated with the eigen-excitations of magnetic materials known as spin waves. The realization of single-chip all-magnon information systems demands the development of circuits in which magnon currents can be manipulated by magnons themselves. Using a magnonic crystal--an artificial magnetic material--to enhance nonlinear magnon-magnon interactions, we have succeeded in the realization of magnon-by-magnon control, and the development of a magnon transistor. We present a proof of concept three-terminal device fabricated from an electrically insulating magnetic material. We demonstrate that the density of magnons flowing from the transistor's source to its drain can be decreased three orders of magnitude by the injection of magnons into the transistor's gate.

Bose-Einstein condensation in an ultra-hot gas of pumped magnons.

Bose-Einstein condensation of quasi-particles such as excitons, polaritons, magnons and photons is a fascinating quantum mechanical phenomenon. Unlike the Bose-Einstein condensation of real particles (like atoms), these processes do not require low temperatures, since the high densities of low-energy quasi-particles needed for the condensate to form can be produced via external pumping. Here we demonstrate that such a pumping can create remarkably high effective temperatures in a narrow spectral region of the lowest energy states in a magnon gas, resulting in strikingly unexpected transitional dynamics of Bose-Einstein magnon condensate: the density of the condensate increases immediately after the external magnon flow is switched off and initially decreases if it is switched on again. This behaviour finds explanation in a nonlinear 'evaporative supercooling' mechanism that couples the low-energy magnons overheated by pumping with all the other thermal magnons, removing the excess heat, and allowing Bose-Einstein condensate formation.

All-linear time reversal by a dynamic artificial crystal.

The time reversal of pulsed signals or propagating wave packets has long been recognized to have profound scientific and technological significance. Until now, all experimentally verified time-reversal mechanisms have been reliant upon nonlinear phenomena such as four-wave mixing. In this paper, we report the experimental realization of all-linear time reversal. The time-reversal mechanism we propose is based on the dynamic control of an artificial crystal structure, and is demonstrated in a spin-wave system using a dynamic magnonic crystal. The crystal is switched from an homogeneous state to one in which its properties vary with spatial period a, while a propagating wave packet is inside. As a result, a linear coupling between wave components with wave vectors k≈π/a and k'=k-2π/a≈-π/a is produced, which leads to spectral inversion, and thus to the formation of a time-reversed wave packet. The reversal mechanism is entirely general and so applicable to artificial crystal systems of any physical nature.