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Nonreciprocity, the defining characteristic of isolators, circulators and a wealth of other applications in radio/microwave communications technologies, is in general difficult to achieve as most physical systems incorporate symmetries that prevent the effect. In particular, acoustic waves are an important medium for information transport, but they are inherently symmetric in time. In this work, we report giant nonreciprocity in the transmission of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) on lithium niobate substrate coated with ferromagnet/insulator/ferromagnet (FeGaB/Al2O3/FeGaB) multilayer structure. We exploit this novel structure with a unique asymmetric band diagram, and expand on magnetoelastic coupling theory to show how the magnetic bands couple with acoustic waves only in a single direction. We measure 48.4 dB (ratio of 1:100,000) isolation which outperforms current state of the art microwave isolator devices in a novel acoustic wave system that facilitates unprecedented size, weight, and power reduction. Additionally, these results offer a promising platform to study nonreciprocal SAW devices., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures

A theory of magnetization dynamics in ferrimagnetic materials with antiparallel aligned spin sub-lattices under action of spin-transfer torques (STT) is developed. We consider magnetization dynamics in GdFeCo layers in two cases of magnetic anisotropy: easy plane and easy axis. We demonstrate that, (i) for the easy plane anisotropy the precession of the N\'{e}el vector is conical and the cone angle depends on the STT strength and the value of spin non-compensation, while the frequency of precession can reach sub-THz frequencies; (ii) for the easy axis anisotropy two regimes are possible: deterministic switching of the net magnetization and a conical sub-THz precession depending on the STT strength., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

We demonstrate analytically and numerically, that a thin film of an antiferromagnetic (AFM) material, having biaxial magnetic anisotropy and being driven by an external spin-transfer torque signal, can be used for the generation of ultra-short "Dirac-delta-like" spikes. The duration of the generated spikes is several picoseconds for typical AFM materials and is determined by the in-plane magnetic anisotropy and the effective damping of the AFM material. The generated output signal can consist of a single spike or a discrete group of spikes ("bursting"), which depends on the repetition (clock) rate, amplitude, and shape of the external control signal. The spike generation occurs only when the amplitude of the control signal exceeds a certain threshold, similar to the action of a biological neuron in response to an external stimulus. The "threshold" behavior of the proposed AFM spike generator makes possible its application not only in the traditional microwave signal processing but also in the future neuromorphic signal processing circuits working at clock frequencies of tens of gigahertz.

A spin-torque nano-oscillator (STNO) driven by a ramped bias current can perform spectrum analysis quickly over a wide frequency bandwidth. The STNO spectrum analyzer operates by injection locking to external microwave signals and produces an output DC voltage $V_{\rm dc}$ that temporally encodes the input spectrum. We found, via numerical analysis with a macrospin approximation, that an STNO is able to scan a $10~\rm GHz$ bandwidth in less than $100~\rm ns$ (scanning rate $R$ exceeds $100~\rm MHz/ns$). In contrast to conventional quadratic microwave detectors, the output voltage of the STNO analyzer is proportional to the amplitude of the input microwave signal $I_{\rm rf}$ with sensitivity $S = dV_{\rm dc}/dI_{\rm rf} \approx 750~\rm mV/mA$. The minimum detectable signal of the analyzer depends on the scanning rate $R$ and, at low $R \approx 1~\rm MHz/ns$, is about $1~\rm pW$., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

The development of compact and tunable room temperature sources of coherent THz-frequency signals would open a way for numerous new applications. The existing approaches to THz-frequency generation based on superconductor Josephson junctions (JJ), free electron lasers, and quantum cascades require cryogenic temperatures or/and complex setups, preventing the miniaturization and wide use of these devices. We demonstrate theoretically that a bi-layer of a heavy metal (Pt) and a bi-axial antiferromagnetic (AFM) dielectric (NiO) can be a source of a coherent THz signal. A spin-current flowing from a DC-current-driven Pt layer and polarized along the hard AFM anisotropy axis excites a non-uniform in time precession of magnetizations sublattices in the AFM, due to the presence of a weak easy-plane AFM anisotropy. The frequency of the AFM oscillations varies in the range of 0.1-2.0 THz with the driving current in the Pt layer from $10^8\text{A}/\text{cm}^2$ to $10^9\text{A}/\text{cm}^2$. The THz-frequency signal from the AFM with the amplitude exceeding 1 V/cm is picked up by the inverse spin-Hall effect in Pt. The operation of a room-temperature AFM THz-frequency oscillator is similar to that of a cryogenic JJ oscillator, with the energy of the easy-plane magnetic anisotropy playing the role of the Josephson energy., Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures

A design of a magnonic phase shifter operating without an external bias magnetic field is proposed. The phase shifter uses a localized collective spin wave mode propagating along a domain wall "waveguide" in a dipolarly-coupled magnetic dot array existing in a chessboard antiferromagnetic (CAFM) ground state. It is demonstrated numerically that remagnetization of a single magnetic dot adjacent to the domain wall waveguide introduces a controllable phase shift in the propagating spin wave mode without significant change of the mode amplitude. It is also demonstrated that a logic XOR gate can be realized in the same system., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

A theoretical formalism for the description of the interaction of microwave photons with a thin (compared to the photon wavelength) magnetic metasurface comprised of dipolarly interacting nano-scale magnetic elements is developed. A scattering matrix describing the processes of photon transmission and reflection at the metasurface boundary is derived. As an example of the use of the developed formalism, it is demonstrated, that the introduction of a magnetic metasurface inside a microstrip electromagnetic waveguide quantitatively changes the dispersion relation of the fundamental waveguide mode, opening a non-propagation frequency band gap in the waveguide spectrum. The frequency position and the width of the band gap are dependent on the waveguide thickness, and can be controlled dynamically by switching the magnetic ground state of the metasurface. For sufficiently thin waveguides the position of the band gap is shifted from the resonance absorption frequency of the metasurface. In such a case, the magnetic metasurface inside a waveguide works as an efficient reflector, as the energy absorption in the metasurface is small, and most of the electromagnetic energy inside the non-propagation band gap is reflected., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

A general theory of edge spin wave excitations in semi-infinite and finite periodic arrays of magnetic nanodots existing in a spatially uniform magnetization ground state is developed. The theory is formulated using a formalism of multi-vectors of magnetization dynamics, which allows one to study edge excitations in arrays having arbitrary complex primitive cells and lattice geometry. The developed formalism can describe edge excitations localized both at the physical edges of the array and at the internal "domain walls" separating array regions existing in different static magnetization states. Using a perturbation theory in the framework of the developed formalism it is possible to calculate damping of edge modes and their excitation by external variable magnetic fields. The theory is illustrated on the following practically important examples: (i) calculation of the FMR absorption in a finite nanodot array having the shape of a right triangle, (ii) calculation of nonreciprocal spin wave spectra of edge modes, including modes at the physical edges of an array and modes at the domain walls inside an array, (iii) study of the influence of the domain wall modes on the FMR spectrum of an array existing in a non-ideal chessboard antiferromagnetic ground state., Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures

It is demonstrated theoretically that a thin layer of an anisotropic antiferromagnetic (AFM) insulator can effectively conduct spin current by excitation of a pair of evanescent AFM spin wave modes. The spin current flowing through the AFM is not conserved due to the interaction between the excited AFM modes and the AFM lattice, and, depending on the excitation conditions, can be either attenuated or enhanced. When the phase difference between the excited evanescent modes is close to $\pi/2$, there is an optimum AFM thickness for which the output spin current reaches a maximum, that can significantly exceed the magnitude of the input spin current. The spin current transfer through the AFM depends on the ambient temperature and increases substantially when temperature approaches the Neel temperature of the AFM layer.

Acoustic waves propagation of in composite of water with embedded double-layered silicone resin/silver rods is considered. Approximate values of effective dynamical constitutive parameters are obtained. Frequency ranges of simultaneous negative constitutive parameters are found. Localized surface states on the interface between metamaterial and "normal" material are found. Doppler effect in metamaterial is considered. Presence of anomalous modes are shown., Comment: Published in Applied Physics A. Avaible on http://www.springer.com