0000000000547863
AUTHOR
Ulrich Nowak
Anisotropic skyrmion diffusion controlled by field-induced symmetry breaking
Diffusion of particles has wide repercussions ranging from particle-based soft matter systems to solid state systems with particular electronic properties. Recently, in the field of magnetism, diffusion of magnetic skyrmions, topologically stabilized quasi-particles, has been demonstrated. Here we show that by applying a magnetic in-plane field and therefore breaking the symmetry of the system, the skyrmion diffusion becomes anisotropic with faster diffusion parallel to the field axis and slower diffusion perpendicular to it. We furthermore show that the absolute value of the applied field controls the absolute values of the diffusion coefficients so that one can thereby uniquely tune both …
Magnon detection using a ferroic collinear multilayer spin valve
Information transport and processing by pure magnonic spin currents in insulators is a promising alternative to conventional charge-current-driven spintronic devices. The absence of Joule heating and reduced spin wave damping in insulating ferromagnets have been suggested for implementing efficient logic devices. After the successful demonstration of a majority gate based on the superposition of spin waves, further components are required to perform complex logic operations. Here, we report on magnetization orientation-dependent spin current detection signals in collinear magnetic multilayers inspired by the functionality of a conventional spin valve. In Y3Fe5O12|CoO|Co, we find that the de…
Ferroic collinear multilayer magnon spin valve
Information transport and processing by pure magnonic spin currents in insulators is a promising alternative to conventional charge-current driven spintronic devices. The absence of Joule heating as well as the reduced spin wave damping in insulating ferromagnets has been suggested to enable the implementation of efficient logic devices. After the proof of concept for a logic majority gate based on the superposition of spin waves has been successfully demonstrated, further components are required to perform complex logic operations. A key component is a switch that corresponds to a conventional magnetoresistive spin valve. Here, we report on magnetization orientation dependent spin signal d…
Magnetic field control of the spin Seebeck effect
The origin of the suppression of the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect by applied magnetic fields is studied. We perform numerical simulations of the stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation of motion for an atomistic spin model and calculate the magnon accumulation in linear temperature gradients for different strengths of applied magnetic fields and different length scales of the temperature gradient. We observe a decrease of the magnon accumulation with increasing magnetic field and we reveal that the origin of this effect is a field dependent change of the frequency distribution of the propagating magnons. With increasing field the magnonic spin currents are reduced due to a suppressi…
Ptychographic imaging and micromagnetic modeling of thermal melting of nanoscale magnetic domains in antidot lattices
CA extern Antidot lattices are potential candidates to act as bit patterned media for data storage as they are able to trap nanoscale magnetic domains between two adjacent holes. Here, we demonstrate the combination of micromagnetic modeling and x-ray microscopy. Detailed simulation of these systems can only be achieved by micromagnetic modeling that takes thermal effects into account. For this purpose, a Landau-Lifshitz-Bloch approach is used here. The calculated melting of magnetic domains within the antidot lattice is reproduced experimentally by x-ray microscopy. Furthermore, we compare conventional scanning transmission x-ray microscopy with resolution enhanced ptychography. Hence, we …
Determination of the origin of the spin Seebeck effect - bulk vs. interface effects
The observation of the spin Seebeck effect in insulators has meant a breakthrough for spin caloritronics due to the unique ability to generate pure spin currents by thermal excitations in insulating systems without moving charge carriers. Since the recent first observation, the underlying mechanism and the origin of the observed signals have been discussed highly controversially. Here we present a characteristic dependence of the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect amplitude on the thickness of the insulating ferromagnet (YIG). Our measurements show that the observed behavior cannot be explained by any effects originating from the interface, such as magnetic proximity effects in the spin detec…
Exceptional sign changes of the nonlocal spin Seebeck effect in antiferromagnetic hematite
A.R. and M.K. acknowledge support from the Graduate School of Excellence Materials Science in Mainz (DFG/GSC 266). A.R. and M.K. also acknowledge support from both MaHoJeRo (DAAD Spintronics network, Projects No. 57334897 and No. 57524834) and SPIN+X (DFG SFB TRR 173, No. 268565370 Projects No. A01 and No. B02) and KAUST (Project No. OSR-2019-CRG8-4048.2). This work was supported by the Max Planck Graduate Center with the Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz (MPGC). A.R., R.L., M.E., U.N., and M.K. acknowledge support from the DFG Project No. 423441604. R.L. acknowledges the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement FAST…
Length Scale of the Spin Seebeck Effect
We investigate the origin of the spin Seebeck effect in yttrium iron garnet (YIG) samples for film thicknesses from 20 nm to 50 μm at room temperature and 50 K. Our results reveal a characteristic increase of the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect amplitude with the thickness of the insulating ferrimagnetic YIG, which levels off at a critical thickness that increases with decreasing temperature. The observed behavior cannot be explained as an interface effect or by variations of the material parameters. Comparison to numerical simulations of thermal magnonic spin currents yields qualitative agreement for the thickness dependence resulting from the finite magnon propagation length. This allow…
Enhanced thermally-activated skyrmion diffusion in synthetic antiferromagnetic systems with tunable effective topological charge
Magnetic skyrmions, topologically-stabilized spin textures that emerge in particular magnetic systems, have attracted attention due to a variety of electromagnetic responses that are governed by the topology. A well-studied effect of topology on the deterministic and drift motion under a nonequilibrium excitation is the so-called skyrmion Hall effect. For stochastic diffusive motion, the effect of topology is expected to have a drastically stronger impact, but the predicted even qualitative impact has not been demonstrated. The required tuning of the topology to achieve zero effective topological charge can be achieved using antiferromagnetic skyrmions. However, the diffusive motion has pre…
Anisotropic skyrmion diffusion controlled by magnetic-field-induced symmetry breaking
The diffusion of particles has wide repercussions, ranging from particle-based soft-matter systems to solid-state systems with particular electronic properties. Recently, in the field of magnetism, the diffusion of magnetic skyrmions, topologically stabilized quasiparticles, has been demonstrated. Here, we show that, by applying a magnetic in-plane field, and therefore, breaking the symmetry of the system, skyrmion diffusion becomes anisotropic, with faster diffusion parallel to the field axis and slower diffusion perpendicular to it. We furthermore show that the absolute value of the applied magnetic in-plane field controls the absolute values of the diffusion coefficients, so that one can…
Thermally induced magnon accumulation in two-sublattice magnets
We present a temperature-dependent study of the thermal excitation of a magnon accumulation in two-sublattice magnetic materials. Using atomistic spin model simulations, we study the local magnetization profiles sublattice-wise in the vicinity of a temperature step in antiferromagnets, as well as in ferrimagnets. It is shown that the strength of the magnon accumulation in these systems scales with the derivative of the magnetization with respect to the temperature. These results give an insight into the complex temperature dependence of the magnon accumulation by making a direct link to the macroscopic behavior of the magnetization.
Spin transport across antiferromagnets induced by the spin Seebeck effect
For prospective spintronics devices based on the propagation of pure spin currents, antiferromagnets are an interesting class of materials that potentially entail a number of advantages as compared to ferromagnets. Here, we present a detailed theoretical study of magnonic spin current transport in ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic multilayers by using atomistic spin dynamics simulations. The relevant length scales of magnonic spin transport in antiferromagnets are determined. We demonstrate the transfer of angular momentum from a ferromagnet into an antiferromagnet due to the excitation of only one magnon branch in the antiferromagnet. As an experimental system, we ascertain the transport acr…
Interfacial Oxide Modulated unique Exchange Bias in CrPS4/Fe3GeTe2 van der Waals heterostructures
Two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures are an attractive platform for studying exchange bias due to their defect free and atomically flat interfaces. Chromium thiophosphate (CrPS4), an antiferromagnet, has uncompensated magnetic spins in a single layer that make it an excellent candidate for studying exchange bias. In this study, we examined the exchange bias in CrPS4/Fe3GeTe2 van der Waals heterostructures using anomalous Hall measurements. Our results show that the exchange bias strength is robust for clean interfaces, with a hysteresis loop shift of about 55 mT at 5 K for few-layer Fe3GeTe2, which is larger than that obtained in most van der Waals AFM/FM heterostructures. However…