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Topological growth control allows to produce a narrow distribution of outgrown colloidal rods with defined and adjustable length. We use an external magnetic field to assemble paramagnetic colloidal spheres into colloidal rods of a chosen length. The rods reside above ametamorphic hexagonalmagnetic pattern. The periodic repetition of specific loops of the orientation of an applied external field renders paramagnetic colloidal particles and their assemblies into active bipeds that walk on the pattern. The metamorphic patterns allow the robust and controlled polymerization of single colloids to bipeds of a desired length. The colloids are exposed to this fixed external control loop that causes multiple simultaneous responses: Small bipeds and single colloidal particles interpret the external magnetic loop as an order to walk toward the active zone, where they assemble and polymerize. Outgrown bipeds interpret the same loop as an order to walk away from the active zone. The topological transition occurs solely for the growing biped and nothing is changed in the environment nor in the magnetic control loop. As in many biological systems the decision of a biped that reached its outgrown length to walk away from the reaction site is made internally, not externally.

Using density functional theory, we carried out systematic calculations for a series of ultrathin iron layers with thicknesses ranging from one atomic monolayer to eleven monolayers (up to about 1.5 nm). We considered three cases: (1) iron layers both on a gold substrate and coated with gold, (2) iron layers on a gold substrate but without coverage, and (3) freestanding iron layers adjacent to a vacuum. For our models, we chose initial bcc Fe(001) surfaces and fcc Au(001) substrates. Based on the calculations, we determined the details of the geometry and magnetic properties of the systems. We calculate lattice parameters, magnetic moments, Curie temperatures and magnetocrystalline anisotropy energies. From the thickness dependence, we determined the volume and surface contributions to the magnetic anisotropy constant. The further analysis allowed us to determine the thickness ranges of the occurrence of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, as well as the effect of thickness and the presence of a substrate and cap layer on the direction of the magnetization easy axis., Comment: Conference: 2023 IEEE International Magnetic Conference - Short Papers (INTERMAG Short Papers), Sendai, Japan, 2023

Controlled actuation of superparamagnetic beads (SPBs) within a microfluidic environment using tailored dynamic magnetic field landscapes (MFLs) is a potent approach for the realization of point-of-care diagnostics within Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems. Making use of an engineered magnetic domain pattern as the MFL source, a functional LOC-element with combined magnetophoretic funnel, concentrator, and valve functions for micron-sized SPBs is presented. A parallel-stripe domain pattern design with periodically increasing/decreasing stripe lengths has been fabricated in a topographically flat continuous exchange biased (EB) thin film system by ion bombardment induced magnetic patterning (IBMP). It is demonstrated that, upon application of external magnetic field pulses, a fully reversible concentration of SPBs at the domain pattern focal point occurs. In addition, it is shown that this functionality may be used as an SPB funnel, allowing only a maximum number of particles to pass through the focal point. Adjusting the pulse time length, the focal point can be clogged up for incoming SPBs, resembling an on-and-off switchable particle valve. The observations are supported by quantitative theoretical force considerations., Comment: 30 pages and 4 figures (main article), 2 pages Supporting Information

The combination of spin-orbit coupling driven effects and multiferroic tunneling properties was explored experimentally in thin Pt/Co/BTO/LSMO multilayers. The presence of a Pt heavy metal allows for the spin current-induced magnetization precession of Co upon radio-frequency charge current injection. The utilization of a BTO ferroelectric tunnel barrier separating the Co and LSMO ferromagnetic electrodes gives rise to both tunneling-magnetoresistance and electroresistance. Using the spin-orbit torque ferromagnetic resonance, the maganetization dynamics of the Co/Pt bilayers was studied at room temperature. Unexpectedly the magnetization dynamics study in the same geometry performed at low temperature reveals the existence of both Co and LSMO resonance peaks indicating efficient spin current generation both using the spin Hall effect in Pt and spin pumping in LSMO that tunnel via the BTO barrier., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Possible existence of topologically protected surface in samarium hexaboride has created a strong need for investigations allowing to distinguish between properties coming from the surface states and those originating in the (remaining) bulk. Studies of SmB6 thin films represent a favorable approach allowing well defined variations of the bulk volume that is not affected by surface states. Moreover, thin films are highly desirable for potential technology applications. However, the growth of SmB6 thin films is accompanied by technology problems, which are typically associated with maintaining the correct stoichiometry of samarium and boron. Here we present feasibility study of SmB6 thin film synthesis by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) from a single stoichiometric SmB6 target. As proved by Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS), we succeeded to obtain the same ratio of samarium and boron in the films as that in the target. Thin films revealing characteristic electrical properties of (crystalline) SmB6 were successfully deposited on MgO, sapphire, and glass-ceramics substrates, when the substrates were kept at temperature of 600$^\circ$ C during the deposition. Performed electrical resistance studies have revealed that bulk properties of the films are only slightly affected by the substrate. Our results indicate that PLD is a suitable method for complex and intensive research of SmB6 and similar systems.

In this work, we study magnetization switching induced by spin-orbit torque in W(Pt)/Co/NiO heterostructures with variable thickness of heavy-metal layers W and Pt, perpendicularly magnetized Co layer and an antiferromagnetic NiO layer. Using current-driven switching, magnetoresistance and anomalous Hall effect measurements, perpendicular and in-plane exchange bias field were determined. Several Hall-bar devices possessing in-plane exchange bias from both systems were selected and analyzed in relation to our analytical switching model of critical current density as a function of Pt and W thickness, resulting in estimation of effective spin Hall angle and perpendicular effective magnetic anisotropy. We demonstrate in both the Pt/Co/NiO and the W/Co/NiO systems the deterministic Co magnetization switching without external magnetic field which was replaced by in-plane exchange bias field. Moreover, we show that due to a higher effective spin Hall angle in W than in Pt-systems the relative difference between the resistance states in the magnetization current switching to difference between the resistance states in magnetic field switching determined by anomalous Hall effect ($\Delta R/\Delta R_{\text{AHE}}$) is about twice higher in W than Pt, while critical switching current density in W is one order lower than in Pt-devices. The current switching stability and training process is discussed in detail.

The concept of Space-Time Crystals (STC), i.e. translational symmetry breaking in time and space, was recently proposed and experimentally demonstrated for quantum systems. Here, we transfer this concept to magnons and experimentally demonstrate a driven STC at room temperature. The STC is realized by strong homogeneous micro-wave pumping of a micron-sized permalloy (Py) stripe and is directly imaged by Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM). For a fundamental understanding of the formation of the STC, micromagnetic simulations are carefully adapted to model the experimental findings. Beyond the mere generation of a STC, we observe the formation of a magnonic band structure due to back folding of modes at the STC's Brillouin zone boundaries. We show interactions of magnons with the STC that appear as lattice scattering. This results in the generation of ultra short spin waves down to 100 nm wavelength that cannot be described by classical dispersion relations for linear spin wave excitations. We expect that room temperature STCs will be a useful tool to investigate non-linear wave physics, as they can be easily generated and manipulated to control their spatial and temporal band structure.

We show that it is possible to engineer magnetic multi-domain configurations without domain walls in a prototypical rare earth/transition metal ferrimagnet using keV He+ ion bombardment. We additionally shown that these patterns display a particularly stable magnetic configuration due to a deep minimum in the free energy of the system which is caused by flux closure and the corresponding reduction of the magnetostatic part of the total free energy. This is possible because light-ion bombardment differently affects an elements relative contribution to the effective properties of the ferrimagnet. The impact of bombardment is stronger for rare earth elements. Therefore, it is possible to influence the relative contributions of the two magnetic subsystems in a controlled manner. The selection of material system and the use of light-ion bombardment open a route to engineer domain patterns in continuous magnetic films much smaller than what is currently considered possible.

We report on long-range spin wave (SW) propagation in nanometer-thick yttrium iron garnet (YIG) film with an ultralow Gilbert damping. The knowledge of a wavenumber value $|\vec{k}|$ is essential for designing SW devices. Although determining the wavenumber $|\vec{k}|$ in experiments like Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy is straightforward, quantifying the wavenumber in all-electrical experiments has not been widely commented upon so far. We analyze magnetostatic spin wave (SW) propagation in YIG films in order to determine the SW wavenumber $|\vec{k}|$ excited by the coplanar waveguide. We show that it is crucial to consider the influence of magnetic anisotropy fields present in YIG thin films for precise determination of SW wavenumber. With the proposed methods we find that experimentally derived values of $|\vec{k}|$ are in perfect agreement with that obtained from electromagnetic simulation only if anisotropy fields are included., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures

We show that using maskless photolithography and the lift-off technique, patterned yttrium iron garnet thin films possessing ultra-low Gilbert damping can be accomplished. The films of 70 nm thickness were grown on (001)-oriented gadolinium gallium garnet by means of pulsed laser deposition, and they exhibit high crystalline quality, low surface roughness, and the effective magnetization of 127 emu/cm3. The Gilbert damping parameter is as low as 5x10-4. The obtained structures have well-defined sharp edges which along with good structural and magnetic film properties pave a path in the fabrication of high-quality magnonic circuits and oxide-based spintronic devices., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

Magnonic quasicrystals exceed the possibilities of spin wave (SW) manipulation offered by regular magnonic crystals, because of their more complex SW spectra with fractal characteristics. Here, we report the direct x-ray microscopic observation of propagating SWs in a magnonic quasicrystal, consisting of dipolarly coupled permalloy nanowires arranged in a one-dimensional Fibonacci sequence. SWs from the first and second band as well as evanescent waves from the band gap between them are imaged. Moreover, additional mini-band gaps in the spectrum are demonstrated, directly indicating an influence of the quasiperiodicity of the system. The experimental results are interpreted using numerical calculations and we deduce a simple model to estimate the frequency position of the magnonic gaps in quasiperiodic structures. The demonstrated features of SW spectra in one-dimensional magnonic quasicrystals allows utilizing this class of metamaterials for magnonics and makes them an ideal basis for future applications., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

Magnetization dynamics in W/CoFeB, CoFeB/Pt and W/CoFeB/Pt multilayers was investigated using spin-orbit-torque ferromagnetic resonance (SOT-FMR) technique. An analytical model based on magnetization dynamics due to SOT was used to fit heavy metal (HM) thickness dependence of symmetric and antisymmetric components of the SOT-FMR signal. The analysis resulted in a determination of the properties of HM layers, such as spin Hall angle and spin diffusion length. The spin Hall angle of -0.36 and 0.09 has been found in the W/CoFeB and CoFeB/Pt bilayers, respectively, which add up in the case of W/CoFeB/Pt trilayer. More importantly, we have determined effective interfacial spin-orbit fields at both W/CoFeB and CoFeB/Pt interfaces, which are shown to cancel Oersted field for particular thicknesses of the heavy metal layers, leading to pure spin-current-induced dynamics and indicating the possibility for a more efficient magnetization switching., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Applied

The determination of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction for perpendicularly magnetized thin layered films is not trivial and therefore needs some experimental efforts to determine its sign and magnitude, especially in the exchange biased system. Here, we developed a method proposed by D.-S. Han et al. [Nano Lett. 16, (2016) 4438], which opens a way to investigate this interaction using a conventional PMOKE magnetometer, also in exchange biased systems. Using our approach we demonstrated that the Au/Co/NiO layered system has a strong negative Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, which is independent of the direction of perpendicular interlayer exchange bias coupling., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures