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Organic-based magnon spintronics

Nature Materials volume 17, pages 308–312 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Magnonics concepts utilize spin-wave quanta (magnons) for information transmission, processing and storage. To convert information carried by magnons into an electric signal promises compatibility of magnonic devices with conventional electronic devices, that is, magnon spintronics1. Magnons in inorganic materials have been studied widely with respect to their generation2,3, transport4,5 and detection6. In contrast, resonant spin waves in the room-temperature organic-based ferrimagnet vanadium tetracyanoethylene (V(TCNE) x (x ≈ 2)), were detected only recently7. Herein we report room-temperature coherent magnon generation, transport and detection in films and devices based on V(TCNE) x using three different techniques, which include broadband ferromagnetic resonance (FMR), Brillouin light scattering (BLS) and spin pumping into a Pt adjacent layer. V(TCNE) x can be grown as neat films on a large variety of substrates, and it exhibits extremely low Gilbert damping comparable to that in yttrium iron garnet. Our studies establish an alternative use for organic-based magnets, which, because of their synthetic versatility, may substantially enrich the field of magnon spintronics.

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Fig. 1: FMR in V(TCNE) x films.
Fig. 2: Magnon detection in a 520-nm-thick V(TCNE) x film using BLS spectroscopy at room temperature.
Fig. 3: Observation of a FMR-driven ISHE in V(TCNE) x /Pt bilayers using pulsed and continuous MW excitation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by NSF grant no. DMR-1701427 (p-ISHE measurements), MURI-AFOSR grant FA9550-14-1-0037 (cw ISHE and FMR measurements) and NSF MRSEC grant no. DMR-1121252 (the V(TCNE) x synthesis and film growth). All the authors contributed to the preparation of the manuscript.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Haoliang Liu, Chuang Zhang, Hans Malissa.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Haoliang Liu, Chuang Zhang, Hans Malissa, Matthew Groesbeck, Marzieh Kavand, Ryan McLaughlin, Shirin Jamali, Dali Sun, Leonard Wojcik, Christoph Boehme & Z. Valy Vardeny

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Jingjun Hao, Royce A. Davidson & Joel S. Miller

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Contributions

Z.V.V., C.B. and J.S.M. were responsible for the project planning, group management and final writing of the manuscript. H.L., C.Z., R.A.D., R.M. and J.H. prepared the organic magnetic films. H.L., C.Z., S.J. and D.S. prepared the ISHE devices. R.A.D. measured the critical temperature using SQUID. H.L., M.G. and D.S. measured the Gilbert damping and inverse spin Hall response using cw MW excitation. H.L. and C.Z. measured the non-thermal magnons using BLS. H.M. and M.K. measured the inverse spin Hall response by pulse MW. All the authors contributed to the results, analysis, discussion and manuscript preparation.

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Correspondence to Z. Valy Vardeny.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary text, Figures S1–S9, 13 references

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Liu, H., Zhang, C., Malissa, H. et al. Organic-based magnon spintronics. Nature Mater 17, 308–312 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0035-3

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