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Time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy (TRSKM) was used to study precessional magnetization dynamics induced by a radio frequency (RF) current within a Al2O3/Py(5 nm)/Pt(6 nm)/Au(150 nm) spin Hall nano-oscillator structure. The Au layer was formed into two needle-shaped electrical contacts that concentrated the current in the center of a Py/Pt mesa of 4 mu m diameter. Due to the spin Hall effect, current within the Pt layer drives a spin current into the Py layer, exerting a spin transfer torque (STT). By injecting RF current and exploiting the phase sensitivity of TRSKM and the symmetry of the device structure, the STT and Oersted field torques have been separated and spatially mapped. The STT and torque due to the in-plane Oersted field are observed to exhibit minima at the device center that is ascribed to spreading of RF current that is not observed for DC current. Torques associated with the RF current may destabilize the position of the self-localized bullet mode excited by the DC current and inhibit injection locking. The present study demonstrates the need to characterize both DC and RF current distributions carefully., QC 20190121

Superharmonic injection locking of single nanocontact (NC) spin-torque vortex oscillators (STVOs) subject to a small microwave current has been explored. Frequency locking was observed up to the fourth harmonic of the STVO fundamental frequency f(0) in microwave magnetoelectronic measurements. The large frequency tunability of the STVO with respect to f(0) allowed the device to be locked to multiple subharmonics of the microwave frequency f(RF), or to the same subharmonic over a wide range of fRF by tuning the dc current. In general, analysis of the locking range, linewidth, and amplitude showed that the locking efficiency decreased as the harmonic number increased, as expected for harmonic synchronization of a nonlinear oscillator. Time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy (TRSKM) revealed significant differences in the spatial character of the magnetization dynamics of states locked to the fundamental and harmonic frequencies, suggesting significant differences in the vortex core trajectories within the same device. Superharmonic injection locking of a NC-STVO may open up possibilities for devices such as nanoscale frequency dividers, while differences in the core trajectory may allow mutual synchronization to be achieved in multioscillator networks by tuning the spatial character of the dynamics within shared magnetic layers., QC 20161007

Time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy has been used to directly image the magnetization dynamics of nanocontact (NC) spin-torque vortex oscillators (STVOs) when phase locked to an injected microwave (rf) current. The Kerr images reveal free-layer magnetization dynamics that extend outside the NC footprint, where they cannot be detected electrically, but which are crucial to phase-lock STVOs that share common magnetic layers. For a single NC, dynamics were observed not only when the STVO frequency was fully locked to that of the rf current, but also for a partially locked state characterized by periodic changes in the core trajectory at the rf frequency. For a pair of NCs, we explore the correlation between the spatial character of injection-locked dynamics and the free-running spectra. Insight gained from these images may improve understanding of the conditions required for mutual phase locking of multiple STVOs, and hence enhanced microwave power emission., QC 20160914

Nano-contact (NC) spin-torque vortex oscillators (STVOs) that share constituent ferromagnetic layers are anticipated to overcome the technological bottlenecks of low microwave power and phase instability exhibited by individual STVOs.1 Mutual synchronisation of multiple NC-STVOs can be achieved by dynamic coupling within the common magnetic layers.1,2 Alternatively, injection of a small microwave (RF) current can lock the phase of multiple STVOs.3 Direct observation of the coupled magnetization dynamics is challenging and has so far been inferred from micromagnetic simulations.4 In this work a combination of RF electrical characterization and time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy (TRSKM) has been used to image the magnetization dynamics excited in the continuous film NiFe free layer of a pair of NC-STVOs., QC 20160311