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Magnetic multilayers with interlayer exchange coupling have been widely studied for both static and dynamic regimes. Their dynamical responses depend on the exchange coupling strength and magnetic properties of individual layers. Magnetic resonance spectra in such systems are conveniently discussed in terms of coupling of acoustic and optical modes. At a certain value of applied magnetic field, the two modes come close to being degenerate and the spectral gap indicates the strength of mode hybridisation. In this work, we theoretically and experimentally study the mode hybridisation of interlayer-exchange-coupled moments with dissimilar magnetisation and thickness of two ferromagnetic layers. In agreement with symmetry analysis for eigenmodes, our low-symmetry multilayers exhibit sizable spectral gaps for all experimental conditions. The spectra agree well with the predictions from the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation at the macrospin limit whose parameters are independently fixed by static measurements., Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures

We report in this study the current-induced-torque excitation of acoustic and optical modes in Ta/NiFe/Ru/NiFe/Ta synthetic antiferromagnet stacks grown on SiO2/Si substrates. The two Ta layers serve as spin torque sources with the opposite polarisations both in spin currents and Oersted fields acting on their adjacent NiFe layers. This can create the odd symmetry of spatial spin torque distribution across the growth direction, allowing us to observe different spin-wave excitation efficiency from synthetic antiferromagnets excited by homogeneous torques. We analyse the torque symmetry by in-plane angular dependence of symmetric and anti-symmetric lineshape amplitudes for their resonance and confirm that the parallel (perpendicular) pumping nature for the acoustic (optical) modes in our devices, which is in stark difference from the modes excited by spatially homogeneous torques. We also present our macrospin model for this particular spin-torque excitation geometry, which excellently supports our experimental observation. Our results offer capability of controlling spin-wave excitations by local spin-torque sources and we can explore further spin-wave control schemes based on this concept., Comment: 31 pages, 12 figures

Spin transport characteristics of graphene has been extensively studied so far. The spin transport along c-axis is however reported by rather limited number of papers. We have studied spin transport characteristics through graphene along c-axis with permalloy(Py)/graphene(Gr)/Pt by gigahertz (GHz) and terahertz (THz) magnetization dynamics driven by femtosecond laser pulses. The relatively simple sample structure does not require electrodes on the sample. The graphene layer was prepared by chemical vapor deposition and transferred on Pt film. The quality of graphene layer was characterized by Raman microscopy. Time resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect is used to characterize gigahertz magnetization dynamics. Magnetization precession is clearly observed both for Pt/Py and Pt/Gr/Py. The Gilbert damping constant of Pt/Py was 0.015, indicates spin pumping effect from Py to Pt. The Gilbert damping constant of Pt/Gr/Py is found to be 0.011, indicates spin injection is blocked by graphene layer. We have also performed the measurement of THz emission for Pt/Py and Pt/Gr/Py. While the THz emission is clearly observed for Pt/Py, a strong reduction of THz emission is observed for Pt/Gr/Py. With these two different experiments, and highly anisotropic resistivity of graphite, we conclude that the vertical spin transport is strongly suppressed by the graphene layer., Comment: Submitted to AIP adv (MMM)

In this work, we study magnon-magnon coupling in synthetic antiferromagnets (SyAFs) using microwave spectroscopy at room temperature. Two distinct spin-wave modes are clearly observed and are hybridised at degeneracy points. We provide a phenomenological model that captures the coupling phenomena and experimentally demonstrate that the coupling strength is controlled by the out-of-plane tilt angle as well as the interlayer exchange field. We numerically show that a spin-current mediated damping in SyAFs plays a role in influencing the coupling strength., Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures(including supplementary)

The magnetization dynamics for ferrimagnets at the angular momentum compensation temperature T_A is believed to be analogous to that for antiferromagnets. We investigated the pulsed-laser-induced magnetization dynamics in amorphous rare-earth transition-metal ferrimagnet films with a T_A just above room temperature. For a low pulse fluence, the magnetization precession frequency decreases as the applied magnetic field increases, whereas for a higher pulse fluence, it increases as the applied field increases. The result was well explained by the left-handed and right-handed precession modes of the antiferromagnetic-like resonance at temperatures below and above T_A, respectively, and the data were in agreement with the theoretical simulation. The study demonstrated the experimental route to achieving antiferromagnetic resonance in ferrimagnets using a pulsed laser., Comment: 4 Figures

Coherent spin-wave generation by focused ultrashort laser pulse irradiation was investigated for a permalloy thin film at micrometer scale using an all-optical space and time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect. The spin-wave packet propagating perpendicular to magnetization direction was clearly observed, however that propagating parallel to the magnetization direction was not observed. The propagation length, group velocity, center frequency, and packet-width of the observed spin-wave packet were evaluated and quantitatively explained in terms of the propagation of a magneto-static spin-wave driven by ultrafast change of an out-of-plane demagnetization field induced by the focused-pulse laser.

Laser-induced magnetization precessional dynamics was investigated in epitaxial films of Mn$_3$Ge, which is a tetragonal Heusler-like nearly compensated ferrimagnet. The ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) mode was observed, the precession frequency for which exceeded 0.5 THz and originated from the large magnetic anisotropy field of approximately 200 kOe for this ferrimagnet. The effective damping constant was approximately 0.03. The corresponding effective Landau-Lifshitz constant of approximately 60 Mrad/s and is comparable to those of the similar Mn-Ga materials. The physical mechanisms for the Gilbert damping and for the laser-induced excitation of the FMR mode were also discussed in terms of the spin-orbit-induced damping and the laser-induced ultrafast modulation of the magnetic anisotropy, respectively., Comment: 3 figures

The Mn$_3$Ga Heusler compound and related alloys are the most promising materials for the realization of spin-transfer-torque switching in magneto tunneling junctions. Improved performance can be achieved by high quality interfaces in these multilayered structured devices. In this context, the interface between Mn$_{1.63}$Ga and MgO is of particular interest because of its spin polarization properties in tunneling junctions. We performed a chemical characterization of the MgO/Mn$_{1.63}$Ga junction by hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES). The experiment indicated the formation of Ga-O bonds at the interface and evidenced changes in the local environment of Mn atoms in the proximity of the MgO film. In addition, we show that the insertion of a metallic Mg-layer interfacing the MgO and Mn--Ga film strongly suppresses the oxidation of gallium.