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−2ππ/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

Long distance transport of magnon spin information in a magnetic insulator at room temperature

The transport of spin information has been studied in various materials, such as metals, semiconductors and graphene. In these materials, spin is transported by diffusion of conduction electrons. Here we study the diffusion and relaxation of spin in a magnetic insulator, where the large bandgap prohibits the motion of electrons. Spin can still be transported, however, through the diffusion of non-equilibrium magnons, the quanta of spin wave excitations in magnetically ordered materials. Here we show experimentally that these magnons can be excited and detected fully electrically in linear response, and can transport spin angular momentum through the magnetic insulator yttrium iron garnet (YIG) over distances as large as 40 micrometer. We identify two transport regimes: the diffusion limited regime for distances shorter than the magnon relaxation length, and the relaxation limited regime for larger distances. With a model similar to the diffusion-relaxation model for electron spin transport in (semi)conducting materials, we extract the magnon relaxation length lambda = 9.4 micrometer in a 200 nm thin YIG film at room temperature

Wave modes of collective vortex gyration in dipolar-coupled-dot-array magnonic crystals

Lattice vibration modes are collective excitations in periodic arrays of atoms or molecules. These modes determine novel transport properties in solid crystals. Analogously, in periodical arrangements of magnetic vortex-state disks, collective vortex motions have been predicted. Here, we experimentally observe wave modes of collective vortex gyration in one-dimensional (1D) periodic arrays of magnetic disks using time-resolved scanning transmission x-ray microscopy. The observed modes are interpreted based on micromagnetic simulation and numerical calculation of coupled Thiele equations. Dispersion of the modes is found to be strongly affected by both vortex polarization and chirality ordering, as revealed by the explicit analytical form of 1D infinite arrays. A thorough understanding thereof is fundamental both for lattice vibrations and vortex dynamics, which we demonstrate for 1D magnonic crystals. Such magnetic disk arrays with vortex-state ordering, referred to as magnetic metastructure, offer potential implementation into information processing devices.open8

The dynamic magnonic crystal: New horizons in artificial crystal based signal processing

In this chapter, we describe the development and properties of the first experimental dynamic magnonic crystal devices and highlight certain aspects of the intriguing new physics that they have to offer us. We discuss the significance of the dynamic magnonic crystal both in the context of the furtherance and technological application of magnonics, and in the understanding of general wave dynamics in metamaterial systems. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Spin information transfer and transport in hybrid spinmechatronic structures

Spin waves have long been recognized as potential signal carriers in spintronic devices. However, practical development of spin wave based information platforms is its infancy. To date, work in this area has focused on one-dimensional topologies based on purely magnetic thin-film transmission systems, typically exploiting interference phenomena to perform logical operations. In this paper, we describe an alternative approach in which spinmechatronic structures combining spin-wave transmission systems with magnetically loaded micro- and nano-mechanical elements provide spin-information processing functionality

Employing magnonic crystals to dictate the characteristics of auto-oscillatory spin-wave systems

Spin-wave active rings - positive-feedback systems incorporating spin-wave waveguides - provide important insight into fundamental magnetics, enable experimental investigations into nonlinear wave phenomena, and potentially find application in microwave electronics. Such rings break into spontaneous, monomode oscillation at a certain threshold value of feedback gain. In general, the wavenumber of this initially excited, threshold mode is impossible to predict precisely. Here we discuss how, by exploiting resonant spin-wave reflections from a magnonic crystal, an active ring system having a threshold mode with a well-defined and precisely predictable wavenumber may be realized. Our work suggests that study and development of active ring systems incorporating magnonic crystals may deliver useful insight into spin-wave transmission in structured magnetic films as well as devices with technological applicability