There is a growing need for smaller, faster, and more efficient information processing units. Spin waves (SW)—collective excitation of magnetic order—offer an alternative for low dissipation and low-energy information carriers since they do not involve the movement of charge carriers.
This work is led by the Magnetism group in collaboration with Paul Drude Institute in Berlin and scientists at ALBA synchrotron. Surface acoustic waves (SAW), which are mechanical deformations propagating on material surfaces, are used to efficiently couple magnetization in a Heusler ferromagnet and strain to generate spin waves. Measurements are done using X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPEEM) combined with XMCD and allows us to quantify the amplitude of the spin waves and clearly observe resonant and non-resonant coupling behavior. Additionally, we used micromagnetic simulations to determine the coupling strength between strain and the magnetization.
Rovirola, M. W. Khaliq, B. Casals, M. Foerster, M. A. Niño, L. Aballe, J. Herfort, J. M. Hernàndez, F. Macià, and A. Hernández-Mínguez. Phys. Rev. Applied 20, 034052