Establishing the Magnetoelastic Origin of Spin-Wave Routing through Focused Ion Beam Patterning

Abstract

Spin waves are promising information carriers for analog and wave-based computing, where functionality relies on compact and precisely engineered scattering landscapes. Focused ion beam (FIB) irradiation enables such control by locally tailoring the spin-wave dispersion in yttrium iron garnet (YIG). However, a non-monotonic dependence of the spin-wave wavelength on increasing ion dose hinders predictive landscape design. Here, we present an experimentally validated framework that explains this non-monotonic spin-wave steering by linking phenomenological strain-induced anisotropy to its magnetoelastic origin. Irradiation-induced lattice dislocations drive elastic and plastic deformation, which evolve into partial amorphization, each stage contributing distinctly to the dispersion behavior. We combine post-irradiation wet-chemical etching and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to quantify thickness changes, and track the dispersion in etched regions using time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (trMOKE) microscopy. Fitting the data to the Kalinikos--Slavin formalism with an added effective magnetoelastic field isolates contributions from elastic and plastic deformation. Validation is achieved by mapping the deformation evolution onto a three-phase scenario based on SRIM simulations, reproducing the extracted field trends, and by consistent strain tensor and micromagnetic analyses. These results establish a physical basis for FIB-engineered graded-index (GRIN) spin-wave landscapes and magnetoelastically programmable magnonic devices.