Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Directional control of spin-wave emission by spatially shaped light

Nature Photonics volume 6, pages 662–666 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

In future spintronics it is anticipated that spin waves will function as unique information carriers that are free from Joule heating1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Directional control of spin-wave emission has been desired for the realization of switching devices. Here, we propose a promising technique that makes use of a spatially shaped light pulse with circular polarization. Focusing this light pulse on a magnet generates spin waves via the inverse Faraday effect. Moreover, the wavenumber distribution of the spin waves is determined by the spatial intensity distribution of the light spot. We demonstrate the principle of this technique both theoretically and experimentally. We successfully control the direction of the energy flow by shaping the light spot into an ellipse, with its major axis parallel or perpendicular to the magnetic field. Our findings will open up the possibility of fast and arbitrary synthesis of spin-wave patterns by using a more sophisticated light-shaping technique, for example using a computer-generated hologram8.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Pump pulse-induced spin waves in comparison with ferrimagnetic resonance.
Figure 2: Two-dimensional maps of spin-wave emission.
Figure 3: Two-dimensional maps of spin wave emitted by a spatially shaped light pulse.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Maekawa, S. (ed.) Concepts in Spin Electronics (Oxford Univ. Press, 2006).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. Gurevich, A. G. & Melkov, G. A. Magnetization Oscillations and Waves (CRC Press, 1996).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Stancil, D. D. & Prabhakar, A. Spin Waves: Theory and Applications (Springer, 2009).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Kruglyak, V. V., Demokritov, S. O. & Grundler, D. Magnonics. J. Phys. D 43, 264001 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Serga, A. A., Chumak, A. V. & Hillebrands, B. YIG magnonics. J. Phys. D 43, 264002 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lenk, B., Ulrichs, H., Garbs, F. & Münzenberg, M. The building blocks of magnonics. Phys. Rep. 507, 107–136 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Kajiwara, Y. et al. Transmission of electrical signals by spin-wave interconversion in a magnetic insulator. Nature 464, 262–266 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Lee, W.-H. in Progress in Optics (ed. Wolf, E.) 121–232 (North-Holland, 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Büttner, O. et al. Linear and nonlinear diffraction of dipolar spin waves in yttrium iron garnet films observed by space- and time-resolved Brillouin light scattering. Phys. Rev. B 61, 11576–11587 (2000).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Park, J. P., Eames, P., Engebretson, D. M., Berezovsky, J. & Crowell, P. A. Spatially resolved dynamics of localized spin-wave modes in ferromagnetic wires. Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 277201 (2002).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Covington, M., Crawford, T. M. & Parker, G. J. Time-resolved measurement of propagating spin waves in ferromagnetic thin films. Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 237202 (2002).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Wu, M. Z., Kalinikos, B. A., Krivosik, P. & Patton, C. E. Fast pulse-excited spin waves in yttrium iron garnet thin films. J. Appl. Phys. 99, 013901 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Liu, Z., Giesen, F., Zhu, X., Sydora, R. D. & Freeman, M. R. Spin wave dynamics and the determination of intrinsic damping in locally excited permalloy thin films. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 087201 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Schneider, T., Serga, A. A., Neumann, T., Hillebrands, B. & Kostylev, M. P. Phase reciprocity of spin-wave excitation by a microstrip antenna. Phys. Rev. B 77, 214411 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Perzlmaier, K., Woltersdorf, G. & Back, C. H. Observation of the propagation and interference of spin waves in ferromagnetic thin films. Phys. Rev. B 77, 054425 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Demidov, V. E. et al. Radiation of spin waves from the open end of a microscopic magnetic-film waveguide. Phys. Rev. B 80, 014429 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Schneider, T. et al. Nondiffractive subwavelength wave beams in a medium with externally controlled anisotropy. Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 197203 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Kiselev, S. I. et al. Microwave oscillations of a nanomagnet driven by a spinpolarized current. Nature 425, 380–383 (2003).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Boulle, O. et al. Shaped angular dependence of the spin-transfer torque and microwave generation without magnetic field. Nature Phys. 3, 492–497 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Demidov, V. E., Urazhdin, S. & Demokritov, S. O. Direct observation and mapping of spin waves emitted by spin-torque nano-oscillators. Nature Mater. 9, 984–988 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. van Kampen, M. et al. All-optical probe of coherent spin waves. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 227201 (2002).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Kimel, A. V. et al. Ultrafast non-thermal control of magnetization by instantaneous photomagnetic pulses. Nature 435, 655–657 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Kirilyuk, A., Kimel, A. V. & Rasing, Th. Ultrafast optical manipulation of magnetic order. Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 2731–2784 (2010) and references therein.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Hurben, M. J. & Patton, C. E. Theory of magnetostatic waves for in-plane magnetized anisotropic films. J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 163, 39–69 (1996).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Taylor, B., Maris, H. J. & Elbaum, C. Phonon focusing in solids. Phys. Rev. Lett. 23, 416–419 (1969).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Chigrin, D. N. Radiation pattern of a classical dipole in a photonic crystal: photon focusing. Phys. Rev. E 70, 056611 (2004).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Veerakumar, V. & Camley, R. E. Magnon focusing in thin ferromagnetic films. Phys. Rev. B 74, 214401 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Hecht, E. Optics 4th edn (Addison-Wesley, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  29. Zvezdin, A. K. & Kotov, V. A. Modern Magnetooptics and Magnetooptical Materials (Institute of Physics, 1997).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  30. Farle, M. Ferromagnetic resonance of ultrathin metallic layers. Rep. Prog. Phys. 61, 755–826 (1998).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank S. O. Demokritov, K. Sawada and A. Koreeda for valuable discussions, R. Iida and I. Yoshimine for technical assistance, and S. Takeda for the ferrimagnetic resonance measurements. This work was supported by KAKENHI 23104706 and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)—Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO) (T. Satoh), National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) 220-10 and Scientific and Technological Center of Ukraine (STCU) 5210 (B.A.I.). B.A.I. was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Invitation Fellowship Programs for Research in Japan.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Takuya Satoh and Yuki Terui: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 153-8505, Japan

    Takuya Satoh, Yuki Terui, Rai Moriya, Boris A. Ivanov, Tsutomu Shimura & Kazuo Kuroda

  2. PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, 102-0076, Japan

    Takuya Satoh

  3. Institute of Magnetism, NASU, 03142 Kiev, Ukraine

    Boris A. Ivanov

  4. Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan

    Kazuya Ando & Eiji Saitoh

  5. CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, 102-0075, Japan

    Eiji Saitoh

  6. The Advanced Science Research Center, Japan Atomic Agency, Tokai, 319-1195, Japan

    Eiji Saitoh

  7. WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan

    Eiji Saitoh

Authors
  1. Takuya Satoh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yuki Terui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rai Moriya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Boris A. Ivanov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kazuya Ando
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Eiji Saitoh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Tsutomu Shimura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Kazuo Kuroda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

T.Satoh and R.M. initiated the study. T.Satoh and Y.T. planned the study, carried out the experiment, calculations and analysis, and wrote the manuscript. B.A.I. provided the theoretical model and wrote Supplementary Section S1b. K.A. and E.S. contributed to sample characterization. T.Shimura and K.K. supervised the study. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takuya Satoh.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary information

Supplementary information (PDF 332 kb)

Supplementary Movie 1

Supplementary Movie 1 (MOV 1707 kb)

Supplementary Movie 2

Supplementary Movie 2 (MOV 2748 kb)

Supplementary Movie 3

Supplementary Movie 3 (MOV 2649 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Satoh, T., Terui, Y., Moriya, R. et al. Directional control of spin-wave emission by spatially shaped light. Nature Photon 6, 662–666 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.218

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.218

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing