Magnonics
Magnonics [1],[2],[3],[4] is an emerging, and rapidly growing, research field, positioned at the intersection of magnetism, spintronics and electronics, and dealing, in a broad sense, with magnetic phenomena connected with spin waves (SWs). SWs are the dynamic eigenmodes of magnetically ordered materials and represent a phase-coherent collective precession of the local moments [5] and can be considered the magnetic analogue of sound and light waves. Magnonics is therefore to SWs what Photonics is to light. Spin transfer torque (STT) has recently been used to drive the excitation of SWs and is the very mechanism behind nano-contact Spin Torque Nano-Oscillator operation. To the right is shown a possible future magnonic device where a line of three nano-contact STNOs are used for SW generation and an additional line of nano-contacts are used to modulate or modify the propagation of the SWs. Finally, a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is used for read-out of the SWs.
[1] V. V. Kruglyak and A. N. J. Kuchko, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 272, 302 (2004)
[2] V. V. Kruglyak and R. J. Hicken, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 306, 191 (2006)
[3] S. Neusser and D. Grundler, Adv. Mater. 21, 2927 (2009)
[4] V. V. Kruglyak, S. O. Demokritov and D. Grundler, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 43, 264001 (2010)
[5] A. G. Gurevich and G. A. Melkov,1996 Magnetization Oscillations and Waves (New York: Chemical Rubber Corp.)
[1] V. V. Kruglyak and A. N. J. Kuchko, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 272, 302 (2004)
[2] V. V. Kruglyak and R. J. Hicken, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 306, 191 (2006)
[3] S. Neusser and D. Grundler, Adv. Mater. 21, 2927 (2009)
[4] V. V. Kruglyak, S. O. Demokritov and D. Grundler, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 43, 264001 (2010)
[5] A. G. Gurevich and G. A. Melkov,1996 Magnetization Oscillations and Waves (New York: Chemical Rubber Corp.)