Search

Spin waves offer intriguing novel perspectives for computing and signal processing, since their damping can be lower than the Ohmic losses in conventional CMOS circuits. For controlling the spatial extent and propagation of spin waves on the actual chip, magnetic domain walls show considerable potential as magnonic waveguides. However, low-loss guidance of spin waves with nanoscale wavelengths, in particular around angled tracks, remains to be shown. Here we experimentally demonstrate that such advanced control of propagating spin waves can be obtained using natural features of magnetic order in an interlayer exchange-coupled, anisotropic ferromagnetic bilayer. Using Scanning Transmission X-Ray Microscopy, we image generation of spin waves and their propagation across distances exceeding multiple times the wavelength, in extended planar geometries as well as along one-dimensional domain walls, which can be straight and curved. The observed range of wavelengths is between 1 {\mu}m and 150 nm, at corresponding excitation frequencies from 250 MHz to 3 GHz. Our results show routes towards practical implementation of magnonic waveguides employing domain walls in future spin wave logic and computational circuits.

The use of spin waves as information carriers in spintronic devices can substantially reduce energy losses by eliminating the ohmic heating associated with electron transport. Yet, the excitation of short-wavelength spin waves in nanoscale magnetic systems remains a significant challenge. Here, we propose a method for their coherent generation in a heterostructure composed of antiferromagnetically coupled magnetic layers. The driven dynamics of naturally formed nanosized stacked pairs of magnetic vortex cores is used to achieve this aim. The resulting spin-wave propagation is directly imaged by time-resolved scanning transmission X-ray microscopy. We show that the dipole-exchange spin waves excited in this system have a linear, non-reciprocal dispersion and that their wavelength can be tuned by changing the driving frequency.

Spin waves with wavelengths in the nanometre range could serve as data carriers in future magnonic logic or signal processing devices. We investigate the interference of spin waves emitted from magnetic vortices in two exchange-coupled vortex stacks. The spin-wave dynamics are studied using scanning transmission X-ray microscopy and micromagnetic simulations. Stacks of vortices provide an excellent controllability of spin-wave properties including a tunable wavelength in the 100 nm regime and manipulation of their propagation direction via the magnetisation configuration. Furthermore, interference gives rise to amplified or reduced spin-wave amplitudes in distinct areas of the structure providing controlled confinement crucial for future applications of spin waves. Spin waves are promising candidates as a building block for future magnonic devices. The authors present a combined numerical and experimental study of spin-wave interferences in stacks of magnetic vortices that are efficient spin-wave emitters in the nanometre regime.

Collective modes in three-dimensional crystals of stacked permalloy disks with magnetic vortices are investigated by ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy and scanning transmission X-ray microscopy. The size of the arrangements is increased step by step to identify the different contributions to the interaction between the vortices. These contributions are the key requirement to understand complex dynamics of three dimensional vortex crystals. Both vertical and horizontal coupling determine the collective modes. In-plane dipoles strongly influence the interaction between the disks in the stacks and lead to polarity-dependent resonance frequencies. Weaker contributions discern arrangements with different polarities and circularities that result from the lateral coupling of the stacks and the interaction of the core regions inside a stack. All three contributions are identified in the experiments and are explained in a rigid particle model.

LiFePO₄ is one of the most frequently studied positive electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries during the last years. Nevertheless, there is still an extensive debate on the mechanism of phase transformation. On the one hand this is due to the small energetic differences involved and hence the great sensitivity with respect to parameters such as size and morphology. On the other hand this is due to the lack of in situ observations with appreciable space and time resolution. Here we present scanning transmission X-ray microscopy measurements following in situ the phase boundary propagation within a LiFePO₄ single crystal along the (010) orientation during electrochemical lithiation/delithiation. We follow, on a battery-relevant timescale, the evolution of a two-phase-front on a micrometre scale with a lateral resolution of 30 nm and with minutes of time resolution. The growth pattern is found to be dominated by elastic effects rather than being transport-controlled.