Approaching soft X-ray wavelengths in nanomagnet-based microwave technology

Area of Science:

• Condensed Matter Physics
• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Magnonics, the study of spin waves (magnons), has seen a resurgence.
• Miniaturization of magnetic nanodevices is crucial for low-power GHz-to-THz applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the generation and manipulation of magnons at the sub-100nm scale.
• To develop reconfigurable microwave-to-magnon transducers for advanced functionalities.

Main Methods:

• Combining insulating yttrium iron garnet with nanodisks of different ferromagnets.
• Utilizing conventional coplanar waveguides for writing and reading magnons.

Main Results:

• Achieved magnonic devices with a wavelength of 88nm.
• Demonstrated reconfigurable microwave-to-magnon transducers.
• Exploited nanoscale wavelengths comparable to soft X-rays.

Conclusions:

• The findings pave the way for multi-functional GHz technology with unprecedented miniaturization.
• Nanomagnonics integrated with microwave circuitry offers diverse applications, including nanoscale components and nonlinear data processing.