Mutual control of coherent spin waves and magnetic domain walls in a magnonic device

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 366; no. 6469; pp. 1121 - 1125
• Main Authors: Han, Jiahao, Zhang, Pengxiang, Hou, Justin T., Siddiqui, Saima A., Liu, Luqiao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 29.11.2019; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Cobalt; Devices; Disk drives; Domain walls; Magnetic domains; Magnetism; Magnons; Multilayers; Nickel; Ohmic dissipation; Resistance heating; Spintronics; Wave propagation
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.aau2610

The successful implementation of spin-wave devices requires efficient modulation of spin-wave propagation. Using cobalt/nickel multilayer films, we experimentally demonstrate that nanometer-wide magnetic domain walls can be applied to manipulate the phase and magnitude of coherent spin waves in a nonvolatile manner. We further show that a spin wave can, in turn, be used to change the position of magnetic domain walls by means of the spin-transfer torque effect generated from magnon spin current. This mutual interaction between spin waves and magnetic domain walls opens up the possibility of realizing all-magnon spintronic devices, in which one spin-wave signal can be used to control others by reconfiguring magnetic domain structures.