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Coherent magnon-induced domain-wall motion in a magnetic insulator channel

Nature Nanotechnology volume 18, pages 1000–1004 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Advancing the development of spin-wave devices requires high-quality low-damping magnetic materials where magnon spin currents can efficiently propagate and effectively interact with local magnetic textures. Here we show that magnetic domain walls can modulate spin-wave transport in perpendicularly magnetized channels of Bi-doped yttrium iron garnet. Conversely, we demonstrate that the magnon spin current can drive domain-wall motion in the Bi-doped yttrium iron garnet channel device by means of magnon spin-transfer torque. The domain wall can be reliably moved over 15–20 µm distances at zero applied magnetic field by a magnon spin current excited by a radio-frequency pulse as short as 1 ns. The required energy for driving the domain-wall motion is orders of magnitude smaller than those reported for metallic systems. These results facilitate low-switching-energy magnonic devices and circuits where magnetic domains can be efficiently reconfigured by magnon spin currents flowing within magnetic channels.

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Fig. 1: Schematic of magnon–DW mutual interaction and characterization of the Bi-YIG thin-film sample.
Fig. 2: Magnon transmission spectrum on the Bi-YIG channel device with and without the presence of DW.
Fig. 3: Magnon-induced DW motion.
Fig. 4: Magnon-induced DW motion power threshold dependence on pulse width and carrier frequency of pulse.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

C.A.R., M.J.G., Y.F. and T.F. acknowledge support from SMART, one of seven centres of nCORE, a Semiconductor Research Corporation program, sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the National Science Foundation under award DMR 1808190. S.N. was supported by Fujikura. L.L. acknowledges financial support from the National Science Foundation under award DMR-2104912. Shared facilities of CMSE (MRSEC DMR-1419807) were used. We thank S.-K. Kim for helpful discussions on spin wave dispersion in the Bi-YIG material.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Yabin Fan, Miela J. Gross.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Yabin Fan, Takian Fakhrul, Steven Ngo & Caroline A. Ross

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Miela J. Gross, Joseph Finley, Justin T. Hou & Luqiao Liu

  3. Microsystems Technology Laboratories, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Joseph Finley, Justin T. Hou & Luqiao Liu

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  1. Yabin Fan
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Contributions

T.F. grew the Bi-YIG material and performed the X-ray diffraction characterization. J.F. fabricated the devices and measured the vibrating sample magnetometry data. Y.F. carried out the microwave FMR and spin-wave transmission experiments. Y.F. and M.J.G. carried out the spin-wave-induced DW motion experiment. J.T.H. performed the wire bonding and helped with the microwave experiments. S.N. performed the micromagnetic modelling. C.A.R. and L.L. guided the research. Y.F., M.J.G. and C.A.R. wrote the paper with input from all the co-authors.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Luqiao Liu or Caroline A. Ross.

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Nature Nanotechnology thanks Philipp Pirro and Morgan Trassin for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–7 and Notes 1–11.

Supplementary Video 1

Magnon-induced DW motion from nanosecond RF pulses. The top-right antenna injects sequential 1 ns pulses at 4.35 GHz with increasing power (indicated in dBm on the bottom-right scale bar). A DW is pinned under the bottom-left antenna and is propagated towards the right injector antenna after the 19 dBm RF pulse.

Supplementary Video 2

Magnon-induced progressive DW motion. A video of Fig. 3b showing progressive DW motion from sequential 1 ms pulses at 4.1 GHz. The bottom-right scale bar indicates the power of the RF pulse in dBm.

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Fan, Y., Gross, M.J., Fakhrul, T. et al. Coherent magnon-induced domain-wall motion in a magnetic insulator channel. Nat. Nanotechnol. 18, 1000–1004 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01406-2

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