arXiv subjects

Kilian Lenz

Publications and source records attributed to Kilian Lenz.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Spin wave freezing in Re/Co/Pt multilayers

The phenomenon of spin wave (SW) freezing occurs in the Damon-Eshbach mode in thin film magnetic systems, when SW phase and group velocities both go to zero, and the wave ceases to oscillate and move, preserving its shape as a domain structure pattern. This effect is related to the spin reorientation transition, where the magnetization configuration changes between the homogeneous in-plane state and domain structure with the out-of-plane magnetization component state. Here, we study the SW freezing effect in [Re/Co/Pt]$_{20}$ magnetic multilayers, induced by varying the in-plane external magnetic field. The studies were performed on nanostructures with the quality factor $Q$ (ratio of uniaxial anisotropy to demagnetization energies) greater and smaller than one. Domain structures with an out-of-plane magnetization component were observed in these multilayers. The critical field, visible as the saturation field $H_s^{||}$ in the parallel static magnetization curve measured by superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), is also manifested in the field-dependent vector-network-analyzer ferromagnetic resonance (VNA-FMR) experiment, which measures the homogeneous magnetization oscillations. Brillouin Light Scattering (BLS) spectra, recorded for several values of wave vectors and several field values, probed the field-evolution of the dispersion relation. Micromagnetic simulations allow one to obtain a full dispersion, in good agreement with VNA-FMR and BLS results. Around $H_s^{||}$ the simulated dispersion relations approach the conditions for SW freezing. Below $H_s^{||}$ low and high frequency VNA-FMR modes are related to magnetization oscillations inside domain walls and within domains, respectively. The experimental results of static and dynamic behavior, together with micromagnetic simulations, create an overall consistent picture of the investigated multilayers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Room-temperature magnon-phonon transduction in high-damping Co/Pt structures

Quantum communication and information processing strongly benefit from the coupling between different quasi-particles, offering complementary advantages. Magnetoelastic materials inherently allow for direct coupling between magnetization dynamics and quantized lattice vibrations, called phonons. Near the ferromagnetic resonances, phonons may thus trade energy and angular momentum with uniformly precessing magnetization, called magnons, and enable transduction of information from magnetic to phononic modes, thereby paving the way for long-range transport of magnetic information without the need of magnetic material. Here, we employ tailored magnetic-nonmagnetic heterostructures, which simultaneously act as cavities for standing shear waves, to bring selective phonons and magnons into resonance. These Co films with Pt seed layers show extended linewidth and reduced amplitude of the phonon-resonant FMR lines, providing a hallmark of energy and angular momentum exchange. Complementarily, by theoretical modeling and ultra-fast coherent phonon spectroscopy, we identify the responsible transverse acoustic phonons as standing shear waves in the combined Co and Pt structure. We find a high crystal quality in conjunction with a large magnetoelastic coupling constant as a prerequisite for efficient magnon-phonon coupling of this type. Such resonant enhancement of magnon-phonon coupling in CMOS-compatible material provides an ideal material platform for future quantum transducers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Chiral molecule-induced contributions to ferromagnetic resonance

Despite extensive research on chirality-driven spin selectivity, most studies have focused on static magnetic properties, while the influence of chirality on the dynamic magnetic response remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigate how chiral molecular interfaces affect magnetization dynamics in thin Co/Ni multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy using broadband ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy. A comparison between bare (reference) films and molecule-functionalized (hybrid) samples reveals no measurable changes in either the resonance field or the linewidth that could be attributed to the presence of the chiral environment. Motivated by our findings we develop a macrospin description that distinguishes equilibrium modifications of the magnetic free-energy landscape (MIPAC-type effects) from non-equilibrium, CISS-induced spin torques. Our analysis shows that equilibrium modifications primarily shift the resonance condition via changes to the free energy landscape and thereby the effective field, whereas damping-like non-equilibrium torques provide a distinct channel for varying the effective damping rate. This approach establishes clear criteria for disentangling chiral-interface-induced energy modifications from torque-driven dynamical effects in ferromagnetic resonance experiments.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Coherent Spin Waves in Curved Ferromagnetic Nanocaps of a 3D-printed Magnonic Crystal

Coherent magnon modes in a truly three-dimensional (3D) magnonic crystal have not yet been investigated. This scientific gap exists despite the numerous theoretical predictions about miniband formation and edge modes with topological protection. Such properties are key to advance nanomagnonics for ultrafast data processing. In this work, we use a scalable nanotechnology and integrate a 3D magnonic crystal to an on-chip microresonator. It was fabricated by two-photon lithography of a 3D woodpile structure and atomic layer deposition of 30-nm-thick nickel. Operated near 14 and 24~GHz, the microresonator output revealed numerous coherent magnons with distinct angular dependencies reflecting the underlying face-centred cubic lattice. Micromagnetic simulations show that the edge modes are localised in curved nanocaps and robust against changes in field orientation. Along an edge, they exhibit an unexpected phase evolution. Our findings advance functional microwave circuits with 3D magnonic crystals and fuel their visionary prospects of edge-dominated magnon modes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Magnetic Properties of epitaxial $\text{Re}/\text{Co}_{1-x}\text{Au}_{x}/\text{Pt}$ heterostructures

We investigate epitaxial $\text{Co}(20 \, \text{Å})$ and $\text{Co}_{1-x}\text{Au}_{x}(20 \, \text{Å})$ alloy thin-films surrounded by asymmetric heavy metals layers of $\text{Re}(10 \, \text{Å})$ as a buffer and $\text{Pt}(30 \, \text{Å})$ as a cap to study the magnetic anisotropy, interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (iDMI) and damping. The increase of Au from 0% to 25% in the $\text{Co}_{1-x}\text{Au}_{x}$ alloy generates the spin-reorientation transition of around 13% of Au. The increase in Au concentration provides a significant decrease in saturation magnetization from 1690 kA/m to 982 kA/m measured for Co and $\text{Co}_{75}\text{Au}_{25}$, respectively. The effective anisotropy constant $\text{K}_{eff}$ is elevated up to 0.33 $\text{MJ/m}^{3}$ by changing the Au content. Further, our investigations of the magnetization dynamics have confirmed that the overall effective damping constant rises with the Au concentration which can be attributed to the spin pumping effect. The spin pumping leads to the highest value of effective spin mixing conductance $g^{(\uparrow \downarrow)} \approx 2.91 \times 10^{18} \, \text{m}^{-2}$ in the $\text{Co}_{90}\text{Au}_{10}(20 \, \text{Å})$ system, while the lowest value of $g^{(\uparrow \downarrow)} \approx 2.25 \times 10^{18} \, \text{m}^{-2}$ is found for the $\text{Co}(20 \, \text{Å})$ system. Additionally, we have investigated the iDMI strength, and the amplitude of iDMI decreases with increasing Au concentration. The highest surface iDMI constant value equal to 2.62 pJ/m is observed for Co.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Angle-dependent resonant dynamics of stripes and skyrmions in Re/Co/Pt multilayers

The dynamic behavior and stabilization of skyrmions in magnetic multilayers are critical for advancing spintronic and magnonic technologies. In our study, we investigate the static and dynamic properties of $[Re/Co(d_{Co})/Pt]_{20}$ multilayers with varying Co thicknesses $(6\text{-}24 \, \text{Å})$, showcasing a transition from out-of-plane to in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Magnetization reversal leads to a transformation from labyrinth domains to skyrmion bubbles due to the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (iDMI). Using angle-dependent imaging at remanence, we confirm that skyrmions can be stabilized without an external magnetic field at specific polar angles, with the stabilization angle increasing alongside Co thickness. Ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy reveals four distinct resonant modes, including low-frequency $(2\text{-}18\text{GHz})$, high-frequency $(20\text{-}35 \, \text{GHz})$ modes, depending on the magnetization texture. The frequency range of these modes narrows with decreasing effective anisotropy and iDMI strength decreases in thicker Co layers in perpendicular configurations. Moreover, we observe a decrease in effective Gilbert damping with increasing Co thickness, highlighting the potential for efficient energy dissipation. These findings link between material properties and skyrmion dynamics directly and demonstrate tunable resonant modes for magnonic devices. By addressing both static and dynamic aspects, our work advances the development of next-generation spintronic and magnonic applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Interpretation of spin-wave modes in Co/Ag nanodot arrays probed by broadband ferromagnetic resonance

We present a detailed investigation of the magnetization dynamics in Co/Ag nanodots, which due to their size can support standing spin-wave (SSW) modes with complex spectral responses. To interpret the experimentally measured broadband vector network analyzer ferromagnetic resonance data, we compare the spectra of the nanoarray structure with those of the unpatterned Co/Ag film of identical thickness, which serves as a baseline for obtaining the general magnetic parameters of the system. Using a novel frequency domain, matrix-free simulation method of the dynamic response, we identify the nature of the excitation modes, which allows us to assess the boundary conditions for the nanodots. We find an excellent agreement between the calculated and experimental values for the frequencies of the fundamental (uniform-like) (011) mode. The existence of an edge-localized mode in the experiment has been confirmed and fits very well with theory and micromagnetic simulations, having the form of a flapping mode at the extrema of the nanodot in one of the in-plane directions. Its frequency is below the fundamental mode's frequency and has been shown to be a consequence of the imaginary wave vector for such localized SSW modes. Higher order SSW modes can be generated from the theory, which allows us to find a probable mode number for the second bulk SSW (201 or 221 or 131), which lies at frequencies above the fundamental mode.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Quantifying the spin-wave asymmetry in single and double rectangular Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20}$ microstrips by TR-STXM, FMR and micromagnetic simulations

The asymmetry of spin-wave patterns in confined rectangular Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20}$ microstrips, both in single and double-strip geometries, is quantified. The results of TR-STXM and micromagnetic simulations are compared. For the TR-STXM measurements and the corresponding simulations the excitation was a uniform microwave field with a fixed frequency of 9.43 GHz, while the external static magnetic field was swept. In the easy axis orientation of the analyzed microstrip, the results show a higher asymmetry for the double microstrip design, indicating an influence of the additional microstrip placed in close proximity to the analyzed one.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Control of 4-magnon-scattering in a magnonic waveguide by pure spin current

We use a pure spin current originating from the spin Hall effect to generate a spin-orbit torque (SOT) strongly reducing the effective damping in an adjacent ferromagnet. Due to additional microwave excitation, large spin-wave amplitudes are achieved exceeding the threshold for 4-magnon scattering, thus resulting in additional spin-wave signals at discrete frequencies. Two or more modes are generated below and above the directly pumped mode with equal frequency spacing. It is shown how this nonlinear process can be controlled in magnonic waveguides by the applied dc current and the microwave pumping power. The sudden onset of the nonlinear effect after exceeding the thresholds can be interpreted as spiking phenomenom which makes the effect potentially interesting for neuromorphic computing applications. Moreover, we investigated this effect under microwave frequency and external field variation. The appearance of the additional modes was investigated in the time-domain revealing a time delay between the directly excited and the simultaneously generated nonlinear modes. Furthermore, spatially resolved measurements show different spatial decay lengths of the directly pumped mode and nonlinear modes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Antiskyrmions and their electrical footprint in crystalline mesoscale structures of Mn$_{1.4}$PtSn

Skyrmionic materials hold the potential for future information technologies, such as racetrack memories. Key to that advancement are systems that exhibit high tunability and scalability, with stored information being easy to read and write by means of all-electrical techniques. Topological magnetic excitations such as skyrmions and antiskyrmions, give rise to a characteristic topological Hall effect. However, the electrical detection of antiskyrmions, in both thin films and bulk samples has been challenging to date. Here, we apply magneto-optical microscopy combined with electrical transport to explore the antiskyrmion phase as it emerges in crystalline mesoscale structures of the Heusler magnet Mn$_{1.4}$PtSn. We reveal the Hall signature of antiskyrmions in line with our theoretical model, comprising anomalous and topological components. We examine its dependence on the vertical device thickness, field orientation, and temperature. Our atomistic simulations and experimental anisotropy studies demonstrate the link between antiskyrmions and a complex magnetism that consists of competing ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic, and chiral exchange interactions, not captured by micromagnetic simulations.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Tailoring crosstalk between localized 1D spin-wave nanochannels using focused ion beams

1D spin-wave conduits are envisioned as nanoscale components of magnonics-based logic and computing schemes for future generation electronics. `A-la-carte methods of versatile control of the local magnetization dynamics in such nanochannels are highly desired for efficient steering of the spin waves in magnonic devices. Here, we present a study of localized dynamical modes in 1-$μ$m-wide Permalloy conduits probed by microresonator ferromagnetic resonance technique. We clearly observe the lowest-energy edge mode in the microstrip after its edges were finely trimmed by means of focused Ne$^+$ ion irradiation. Furthermore, after milling the microstrip along its long axis by focused ion beams, creating consecutively $\sim$50 and $\sim$100 nm gaps, additional resonances emerge and are attributed to modes localized at the inner edges of the separated strips. To visualize the mode distribution, spatially resolved Brillouin light scattering microscopy was used showing an excellent agreement with the ferromagnetic resonance data and confirming the mode localization at the outer/inner edges of the strips depending on the magnitude of the applied magnetic field. Micromagnetic simulations confirm that the lowest-energy modes are localized within $\sim$15-nm-wide regions at the edges of the strips and their frequencies can be tuned in a wide range (up to 5 GHz) by changing the magnetostatic coupling (i.e. spatial separation) between the microstrips.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Nonstanding spin waves in a single rectangular permalloy microstrip under uniform magnetic excitation

Ferromagnetic resonance modes in a single rectangular Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20}$ microstrip were directly imaged using time-resolved scanning transmission x-ray microscopy combined with a phase-locked ferromagnetic resonance excitation scheme and the findings were corroborated by micromagnetic simulations. Although under uniform excitation in a single confined microstructure typically standing spin waves are expected, all imaged spin waves showed a nonstanding character both, at and off resonance, the latter being additionally detected with microantenna-based ferromagnetic resonance. The effect of the edge quality on the spin waves was observed in micromagnetic simulations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Control of site occupancy by variation of the Zn and Al content in NiZnAl ferrite epitaxial films with low magnetic damping

The structural and magnetic properties of Zn/Al doped nickel ferrite thin films can be adjusted by changing the Zn and Al content. The films are epitaxially grown by reactive magnetron sputtering using a triple cluster system to sputter simultaneously from three different targets. Upon the variation of the Zn content the films remain fully strained with similar structural properties, while the magnetic properties are strongly affected. The saturation magnetization and coercivity as well as resonance position and linewidth from ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements are altered depending on the Zn content in the material. The reason for these changes can be elucidated by investigation of the x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectra to gain site and valence specific information with elemental specificity. Additionally, from a detailed investigation by broadband FMR a minimum in g-factor and linewidth could be found as a function of film thickness. Furthermore, the results from a variation of the Al content using the same set of measurement techniques is given. Other than for Zn, the variation of Al affects the strain and even more pronounced changes to the magnetic properties are apparent.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Highly Tunable Magnetic and Magnetotransport Properties of Exchange Coupled Ferromagnet/Antiferromagnet-based Heterostructures

Antiferromagnets (AFMs) with zero net magnetization are proposed as active elements in future spintronic devices. Depending on the critical thickness of the AFM thin films and the measurement temperature, bimetallic Mn-based alloys and transition metal oxide-based AFMs can host various coexisting ordered, disordered, and frustrated AFM phases. Such coexisting phases in the exchange coupled ferromagnetic (FM)/AFM-based heterostructures can result in unusual magnetic and magnetotransport phenomena. Here, we integrate chemically disordered AFM IrMn3 thin films with coexisting AFM phases into complex exchange coupled MgO(001)/Ni3Fe/IrMn3/Ni3Fe/CoO heterostructures and study the structural, magnetic, and magnetotransport properties in various magnetic field cooling states. In particular, we unveil the impact of rotating the relative orientation of the disordered and reversible AFM moments with respect to the irreversible AFM moments on the magnetic and magnetoresistance properties of the exchange coupled heterostructures. We further found that the persistence of AFM grains with thermally disordered and reversible AFM order is crucial for achieving highly tunable magnetic properties and multi-level magnetoresistance states. We anticipate that the introduced approach and the heterostructure architecture can be utilized in future spintronic devices to manipulate the thermally disordered and reversible AFM order at the nanoscale.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Non-reciprocity of spin waves in magnetic nanotubes with helical equilibrium magnetization

Spin waves (SWs) in magnetic nanotubes have shown interesting nonreciprocal properties in their dispersion relation, group velocity, frequency linewidth and attenuation lengths. The reported chiral effects are similar to those induced by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, but originating from the dipole-dipole interaction. Here we show, that the isotropic-exchange interaction can also induce chiral effects in the SW transport; the so-called Berry phase of SWs. We demonstrate that with the application of magnetic fields, the nonreciprocity of the different SW modes can be tuned between the fully dipolar governed and the fully exchange governed cases, as they are directly related to the underlaying equilibrium state. In the helical state, due to the combined action of the two effects every single sign combination of the azimuthal and axial wave vectors leads to different dispersion, allowing for a very sophisticated tuning of the SW transport. A disentanglement of the dipole-dipole and exchange contributions so far was not reported for the SW transport in nanotubes. Furthermore, we propose a device based on coplanar waveguides that would allow to selectively measure the exchange or dipole induced SW nonreciprocities. In the context of magnonic applications, our results might encourage further developments in the emerging field of 3D magnonic devices using curved magnetic membranes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Dimensional crossover in spin Hall oscillators

Auto-oscillations of magnetization driven by direct spin current have been previously observed in multiple quasi-zero-dimensional (0D) ferromagnetic systems such as nanomagnets and nanocontacts. Recently, it was shown that pure spin Hall current can excite coherent auto-oscillatory dynamics in quasi-one-dimensional (1D) ferromagnetic nanowires but not in quasi-two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic films. Here we study the 1D to 2D dimensional crossover of current-driven magnetization dynamics in wire-based Pt/$\mathrm{Ni}_{80}\mathrm{Fe}_{20}$ bilayer spin Hall oscillators via varying the wire width. We find that increasing the wire width results in an increase of the number of excited auto-oscillatory modes accompanied by a decrease of the amplitude and coherence of each mode. We also observe a crossover from a hard to a soft onset of the auto-oscillations with increasing the wire width. The amplitude of auto-oscillations rapidly decreases with increasing temperature suggesting that interactions of the phase-coherent auto-oscillatory modes with incoherent thermal magnons plays an important role in suppression of the auto-oscillatory dynamics. Our measurements set the upper limit on the dimensions of an individual spin Hall oscillator and elucidate the mechanisms leading to suppression of coherent auto-oscillations with increasing oscillator size.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Influence of structure and cation distribution on magnetic anisotropy and damping in Zn/Al doped nickel ferrites

An in-depth analysis of Zn/Al doped nickel ferrites grown by reactive magnetron sputtering is relevant due to their promising characteristics for applications in spintronics. The material is insulating and ferromagnetic at room temperature with an additional low magnetic damping. By studying the complex interplay between strain and cation distribution their impact on the magnetic properties, i.e. anisotropy, damping and g-factor is unravelled. In particular, a strong influence of the lattice site occupation of Ni$^{2+}_{\text{Td}}$ and cation coordination of Fe$^{2+}_{\text{Oh}}$ on the intrinsic damping is found. Furthermore, the critical role of the incorporation of Zn$^{2+}$ and Al$^{3+}$ is evidenced by comparison with a sample of altered composition. Especially, the dopant Zn$^{2+}$ is evidenced as a tuning factor for Ni$^{2+}_{\text{Td}}$ and therefore unquenched orbital moments directly controlling the g-factor. A strain-independent reduction of the magnetic anisotropy and damping by adapting the cation distribution is demonstrated.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Low damping and microstructural perfection of sub-40nm-thin yttrium iron garnet films grown by liquid phase epitaxy

The field of magnon spintronics is experiencing an increasing interest in the development of solutions for spin-wave-based data transport and processing technologies that are complementary or alternative to modern CMOS architectures. Nanometer-thin yttrium iron garnet (YIG) films have been the gold standard for insulator-based spintronics to date, but a potential process technology that can deliver perfect, homogeneous large-diameter films is still lacking. We report that liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) enables the deposition of nanometer-thin YIG films with low ferromagnetic resonance losses and consistently high magnetic quality down to a thickness of 20 nm. The obtained epitaxial films are characterized by an ideal stoichiometry and perfect film lattices, which show neither significant compositional strain nor geometric mosaicity, but sharp interfaces. Their magneto-static and dynamic behavior is similar to that of single crystalline bulk YIG. We found, that the Gilbert damping coefficient alpha is independent of the film thickness and close to 1 x 10-4, and that together with an inhomogeneous peak-to-peak linewidth broadening of delta H0|| = 0.4 G, these values are among the lowest ever reported for YIG films with a thickness smaller than 40 nm. These results suggest, that nanometer-thin LPE films can be used to fabricate nano- and micro-scaled circuits with the required quality for magnonic devices. The LPE technique is easily scalable to YIG sample diameters of several inches.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗