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In this paper, we propose a new method of controlling microwave transmission from Electromagnetically Induced Absorption (EIA) to Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT). EIA describes the state where the system strongly absorbs microwaves, whereas EIT describes the state in which the system is transparent to microwaves. Control is achieved via coupling of the 3 GHz photon mode of a metamaterial Split Ring Resonator (SRR) to the spin wave magnon modes of a Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) bulk. The system is described by a 2-body interaction matrix with an additional fitting parameter τ which takes into account the fact that the microstrip feed line could excite the SRR as well as the YIG. The parameter τ reveals the effect of geometry and shielding on the coupling behaviour and gives rise to unique physics. In low τ ( τ ⩽ 2 ) configurations, only EIT is reported. However, in high τ ( τ ≈ 10 ) configurations, EIA is reported. Furthermore, we report that the system can be easily changed from a low τ to high τ configuration by shielding the SRR from the microstrip with a thin metal piece. Varying the τ parameter through shielding is thus proposed as a new method of controlling the microwave transmission at the coupling region.

In this study, we comprehensively investigate the dynamic magnetic properties of FeSiAl-NiZnFeO thin films prepared by the oblique deposition method via a shorted microstrip perturbation technique. For the films with higher oblique angle and NiZn ferrite doping amount, there are two ferromagnetic resonance peaks observed in the permeability spectra, and both of the two peaks originate from FeSiAl. Furthermore, the magnetic anisotropy field HK of the ferromagnetic resonance peak at higher frequency is enhanced with increasing doping amount, which is interpreted in terms of the contribution of reinforced stress-induced anisotropy and shape anisotropy brought about by doping elements and oblique sputtering method. In addition, the thermal stability of the ferromagnetic resonance frequency fFMR of FeSiAl-NiZnFeO films with oblique angles of 35° and 45° with respect to temperature ranging from 300 K to 420 K is deteriorated with increasing ferrite doping amount, which is mainly ascribed to the influence of pair-ordering anisotropy and/or the reduction of the FeSiAl grain size.

In this study, we systematically investigate the dynamic magnetic properties of FeSiAl-Al2O3 thin films fabricated by hybrid oblique gradient-composition sputtering technique with respect to temperature ranging from 300 K to 420 K. The magnetic anisotropy field HK and ferromagnetic resonance frequency fFMR can be tuned from 14.06 to 110.18 Oe and 1.05–3.05 GHz respectively, by changing the oblique angle, which can be interpreted in terms of the contribution of stress-induced anisotropy and shape anisotropy. In addition, the thermal stability of FeSiAl-Al2O3 films in terms of magnetic anisotropy HK and ferromagnetic resonance frequency fFMR are enhanced with the increase of oblique angle up to 35° while the thermal stability of effective Gilbert damping factor αeff and the maximum imaginary permeability μ’’max are improved with the increase of oblique angle up to 45°.

The characteristics of the static and dynamic components of the dipolar fields originating from a bulk polycrystalline yttrium iron garnet (YIG) substrate are probed by depositing a NiFe (Permalloy) layer on it, which acts as a detector. By measuring dc voltages generated via spin rectification effect (SRE) within the NiFe layer under microwave excitation, we characterize the influence of dipolar fields from bulk YIG on the NiFe layer. It is found that the dynamic YIG dipolar fields modify the self-SRE of NiFe, driving its own rectification voltages within the NiFe layer, an effect we term as non-local SRE. This non-local SRE only occurs near the simultaneous resonance of both YIG and NiFe. On the other hand, the static dipolar field from YIG manifests itself as a negative anisotropy in the NiFe layer which shifts the latter’s ferromagnetic resonance frequency.

We carry out a systematic investigation of the dynamic magnetic properties of FeSiAl-Al2O3 and FeSiAl-SiO2 thin films prepared by gradient-composition deposition technique with respect to temperature in the range of 300 K to 420 K. It was found that the magnetic anisotropy field (H K) and ferromagnetic resonance frequency (f FMR) are increased with increasing deposition angle (β) due to the enhancement of stress (σ) when concentrations of Al and O or Si and O are increased. The thermal stability of FeSiAl-Al2O3 films show a very interesting behavior with the magnetic anisotropy increasing with temperature when the deposition angle is increased. In contrast, when the deposition angle is lower, the usual trend of decreasing magnetic anisotropy with increasing temperature is observed. Moreover, the temperature-dependent behaviors of the dynamic permeability and effective Gilbert damping coefficient (α eff) for FeSiAl-Al2O3 and FeSiAl-SiO2 films at different deposition angles are discussed in detail.

The magnetic properties of a series of IrMn(Ir35Mn65)/permalloy (Ni80Fe20) exchange-biased films are investigated using X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The ferromagnetic permalloy films in different samples are of the same thickness (5 nm) while the antiferromagnetic IrMn films have various thickness between 15 and 40 nm. The exchange-field and coercivity is observed to increase with IrMn thickness. XMCD spectra are used to obtain the magnetic moments. It is shown that when the thickness of IrMn layer increases from 20 to 30 nm, a significant increase of the Fe spin-moment occurs. However, the spin-moment of Ni shows no obvious change. We argue that this effect is attributed to the strong coupling between Fe and Mn, while the coupling between Ni and Mn is relatively weaker. The results show the importance of understanding magnetic coupling effects at the exchange-biased FM/AFM interfaces. The study of these interfacial effects can potentially pave the way to the future development of spin-valve devices.

Through numerical simulations, we present a novel coplanar waveguide (CPW) circulator using bulk Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) as the active material. This simple design allows circulation to be achieved using CPW lines, by having a metallized YIG disk on top of the center conductor. The metallization serves to direct the electromagnetic fields in the center region such that the circulation conditions can be satisfied. Simulation results show good nonreciprocal behavior. At circulation frequency of 9.88 GHz, an insertion loss of −0.37 dB, return loss of −18.5 dB, and isolation of −16.8 dB is achieved. As CPW lines are used, and the YIG ferrite is placed on top of the CPW line, this circulator can be easily integrated into monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs). © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 55:2143–2145, 2013

This paper presents an experimental study of the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) in a bilayer consisting of a yttrium iron garnet (YIG) and platinum (Pt) loaded on a metamaterial split ring resonator (SRR). The system is excited by a microstrip feed line which generates both surface and bulk spin waves in the YIG. The spin waves subsequently undergo spin pumping from the YIG film to an adjacent Pt layer, and is converted into a charge current via the ISHE. It is found that the presence of the SRR causes a significant enhancement of the mangetic field near the resonance frequency of the SRR, resulting in a significant increase in the ISHE signal. Furthermore, the type of spin wave generated in the system can be controlled by changing the external applied magnetic field angle (). When the external applied magnetic field is near parallel to the microstrip line (), magnetostatic surface spin waves are predominantly excited. On the other hand, when the external applied magnetic field is perpendicular to the microstrip line (), backward volume magnetostatic spin waves are predominantly excited. Hence, it can be seen that the SRR structure is a promising method of achieving spin-charge conversion, which has many advantages over a coaxial probe.

We develop a method for universally resolving the important issue of separating the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) from spin rectification effect (SRE) signal. This method is based on the consideration that the two effects depend on the spin injection direction: The ISHE is an odd function of the spin injection direction while the SRE is independent on it. Thus, inversion of the spin injection direction changes the ISHE voltage signal, while SRE voltage remains. It applies generally to analyzing the different voltage contributions without fitting them to special line shapes. This fast and simple method can be used in a wide frequency range, and has the flexibility of sample preparation., Comment: 4 figures

The (001) surface of SrTiO3 were transformed from insulating to conducting after Ar+ irradiation, producing a quasi two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). This conducting surface layer can introduce Rashba spin orbital coupling due to the broken inversion symmetry normal to the plane. The spin splitting of such a surface has recently been demonstrated by magneto-resistance and angular resolved photoemission spectra measurements. Here we present experiments evidencing a large spin-charge conversion at the surface. We use spin pumping to inject a spin current from NiFe film into the surface, and measure the resulting charge current. The results indicate that the Rashba effect at the surface can be used for efficient charge-spin conversion, and the large efficiency is due to the multi-d-orbitals and surface corrugation. It holds great promise in oxide spintronics., 11 pages, 5 figures

Future quantum technologies rely heavily on good protection of quantum entanglement against environment-induced decoherence. A recent study showed that an extension of Uhrig's dynamical decoupling (UDD) sequence can (in theory) lock an arbitrary but known two-qubit entangled state to the $N$th order using a sequence of $N$ control pulses [Mukhtar et al., Phys. Rev. A 81, 012331 (2010)]. By nesting three layers of explicitly constructed UDD sequences, here we first consider the protection of unknown two-qubit states as superposition of two known basis states, without making assumptions of the system-environment coupling. It is found that the obtained decoherence suppression can be highly sensitive to the ordering of the three UDD layers and can be remarkably effective with the correct ordering. The detailed theoretical results are useful for general understanding of the nature of controlled quantum dynamics under nested UDD. As an extension of our three-layer UDD, it is finally pointed out that a completely unknown two-qubit state can be protected by nesting four layers of UDD sequences. This work indicates that when UDD is applicable (e.g., when environment has a sharp frequency cut-off and when control pulses can be taken as instantaneous pulses), dynamical decoupling using nested UDD sequences is a powerful approach for entanglement protection., 11 pages, 3 figures, published version

Uhrig's dynamical decoupling pulse sequence has emerged as one universal and highly promising approach to decoherence suppression. So far both the theoretical and experimental studies have examined single-qubit decoherence only. This work extends Uhrig's universal dynamical decoupling from one-qubit to two-qubit systems and even to general multi-level quantum systems. In particular, we show that by designing appropriate control Hamiltonians for a two-qubit or a multi-level system, Uhrig's pulse sequence can also preserve a generalized quantum coherence measure to the order of $1+O(T^{N+1})$, with only $N$ pulses. Our results lead to a very useful scheme for efficiently locking two-qubit entangled states. Future important applications of Uhrig's pulse sequence in preserving the quantum coherence of multi-level quantum systems can also be anticipated., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, minor changes made, submitted to PRA

Antiferromagnetic Mn3Ir, which is widely employed in exchange-biased applications, has attracted much attention recently due to its predicted and subsequently observed large spin Hall effect, therefore increasing its potential for spintronic devices in place of conventional paramagnetic 5d spin Hall metals. (Pt, Ta and W) Via the electrical detection of ferromagnetic resonance, we study a series of exchange biased NiFe/MnIr films for various MnIr thicknesses. In these systems, spin-pumped spin currents from NiFe are converted into dc voltages within MnIr via the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE), which mixes with spin rectification voltages generated from NiFe. Through angular measurements, we separate these different voltage contributions to qualitatively detect non-zero ISHE in MnIr, which coexists with a non-zero unidirectional anisotropy. We find significant extrinsic damping contributions which prevent the accurate quantification of spin pumping-induced ISHE in MnIr films. The results show that spin currents may propagate and dissipate in MnIr films through ISHE in the presence of exchange bias.

We demonstrate the localized excitation and dc electrical detection of magnetostatic surface spin waves (MSSWs) in yttrium iron garnet (YIG) by a shorted coaxial probe. Thin films of NiFe and Pt are patterned at different regions onto a common bulk YIG substrate. A shorted coaxial probe is used to excite spin precession locally near various patterned regions. The dc voltages across the corresponding regions are recorded. For excitation of the Pt regions, the dc voltage spectra are dominated by the spin pumping of MSSWs from YIG, where various modes can be clearly distinguished. For the NiFe region, it is also found that spin pumping from MSSWs generated in YIG dominated the spectra, indicating that the spin pumped currents are dissipated into charge currents via the inverse Spin Hall effect (ISHE) in NiFe. For all regions, dc signals from YIG MSSWs are observed to be much stronger than the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) uniform mode, likely due to the nature of the microwave excitation. The results indicate the potential of this probe for microwave imaging via dc detection of spin dynamics in continuous and patterned films.

Under zero external magnetic fields, single-layer FeCo thin films exhibit no ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) peaks, while multiple FMR peaks were obtained by growing FeCo thin films on NiFe underlayers with various thicknesses up to 50 nm. Comprehensive investigations of the dynamic magnetic properties and origin of the peaks were conducted through measurements of microwave permeability via a shorted microstrip perturbation technique. Through fitted values of saturation magnetization Ms, uniaxial anisotropy HKsta, and rotatable anisotropy HKrot extracted from the FMR experiments, it was found that two of the three resonance peaks originate from FeCo, and the third from NiFe. The two magnetic phases of FeCo grains are found to have different values of HKrot and explained by the exchange interaction between FeCo and NiFe grains.

FeAlSi (Sendust) is known to possess excellent soft magnetic properties comparable to traditional soft magnetic alloys such as NiFe (Permalloy), while having a relatively higher resistance for lower eddy current losses. However, their dynamic magnetic and magneto-transport properties are not well-studied. Via the spin rectification effect, we electrically characterize a series of obliquely sputtered FeAlSi films at ferromagnetic resonance. The variations of the anisotropy fields and damping with oblique angle are extracted and discussed. In particular, two-magnon scattering is found to dominate the damping behavior at high oblique angles. An analysis of the results shows large anomalous Hall effect and anisotropic magneto-resistance across all samples, which decreases sharply with increasing oblique incidence.

Through the inverse spin Hall effect, spin-pumped currents from a Py(Ni80Fe20) layer are converted to direct current (dc) voltages in an adjacent platinum (Pt) layer, which adds to dc voltages generated by the spin rectification effect originating from anisotropic magnetoresistance, ordinary and anomalous Hall effect in the permalloy (Py) layer. Based on a shorted microstrip fixture, we perform angular measurements of rectified dc voltages in a Py(Ni80Fe20)/Pt bilayer to simultaneously separate spin pumping-induced inverse spin Hall voltages from spin-rectified voltages. A systematic approach to accurately determine the spin-Hall angle of Pt is presented.

Through a systematic investigation of the field-dependent dynamic magnetization of a series of NiFe films with and without stripe domains in conjunction with the static magnetization process, we demonstrate that the experimental rotatable anisotropy field is not a fixed value but strongly varied with the external in-plane magnetic field, being qualitatively associated with the emergence of stripe domains. Moreover, the frequency linewidth spectra of the films with stripe domains show an abnormal behavior with three distinct regimes which are strongly correlated with both the static magnetization process and the competition between external magnetic field and dynamic anisotropy field. The results are discussed in terms of the effect of inhomogeneous magnetization associated with the formation of stripe domains and the field-dependent dynamic anisotropy that cause the broadening of frequency linewidth.

A comprehensive investigation of the magnetic properties and high frequency characteristics of NiFe/MnIr bilayers with regards to oblique deposition angle was conducted in conjunction with an analysis based on the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. It was found that exchange bias can be significantly enhanced with the variation of oblique deposition angle, which is interpreted in terms of the formation of inclined columnar structure of the films often observed in samples fabricated by this oblique deposition technique. Moreover, the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy field and the resonance frequency are increased with the increasing of oblique deposition angle. The variations of effective Gilbert damping factor and the frequency linewidth with oblique deposition angle are also presented and discussed in details.