Reconfigurable spin current transmission and magnon–magnon coupling in hybrid ferrimagnetic insulators

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 2234
• Main Authors: Li, Yan, Zhang, Zhitao, Liu, Chen, Zheng, Dongxing, Fang, Bin, Zhang, Chenhui, Chen, Aitian, Ma, Yinchang, Wang, Chunmei, Liu, Haoliang, Shen, Ka, Manchon, Aurélien, Xiao, John Q., Qiu, Ziqiang, Hu, Can-Ming, Zhang, Xixiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 12-03-2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 147/137; 147/28; 639/301/119/1001; 639/766/119/997; Compensation; Controllability; Coupling; Data processing; Elementary excitations; Energy consumption; ENGINEERING; Ferrimagnets; Heterostructures; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hybridization; Information processing; Insulators; Magnetic moments; Magnetic properties and materials; Magnons; multidisciplinary; Particle spin; Reconfiguration; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Spintronics; Waves
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46330-8

Coherent spin waves possess immense potential in wave-based information computation, storage, and transmission with high fidelity and ultra-low energy consumption. However, despite their seminal importance for magnonic devices, there is a paucity of both structural prototypes and theoretical frameworks that regulate the spin current transmission and magnon hybridization mediated by coherent spin waves. Here, we demonstrate reconfigurable coherent spin current transmission, as well as magnon–magnon coupling, in a hybrid ferrimagnetic heterostructure comprising epitaxial Gd
3
Fe
5
O
12
and Y
3
Fe
5
O
12
insulators. By adjusting the compensated moment in Gd
3
Fe
5
O
12
, magnon–magnon coupling was achieved and engineered with pronounced anticrossings between two Kittel modes, accompanied by divergent dissipative coupling approaching the magnetic compensation temperature of Gd
3
Fe
5
O
12
(
T
M
,GdIG
), which were modeled by coherent spin pumping. Remarkably, we further identified, both experimentally and theoretically, a drastic variation in the coherent spin wave-mediated spin current across
T
M
,GdIG
, which manifested as a strong dependence on the relative alignment of magnetic moments. Our findings provide significant fundamental insight into the reconfiguration of coherent spin waves and offer a new route towards constructing artificial magnonic architectures.
Recently there has been a surge of interest in using magnons, the quasi-particles of spin-waves in magnetic systems, for information processing, driven by the potentially very low energy consumption. Here, by adjusting the magnetic compensation in a ferrimagnet, Li et al demonstrate magnon–magnon coupling, and controllable spin wave mediated spin current transmission.