Control of spin waves in a thin film ferromagnetic insulator through interfacial spin scattering

Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Sep 30;107(14):146602. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.146602. Epub 2011 Sep 29.

Abstract

Control of spin waves in a ferrite thin film via interfacial spin scattering was demonstrated. The experiments used a 4.6 μm-thick yttrium iron garnet (YIG) film strip with a 20-nm thick Pt capping layer. A dc current pulse was applied to the Pt layer and produced a spin current across the Pt thickness. As the spin current scatters off the YIG surface, it can either amplify or attenuate spin-wave pulses that travel in the YIG strip, depending on the current or field configuration. The spin scattering also affects the saturation behavior of high-power spin waves.