M. Lammel | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Quantifying thermal and driven magnon populations with femtosecond noise correlation spectroscopy

Precise knowledge of the total number of magnons, including both coherent and incoherent (e.g. thermal) excitations, is imperative for the advancement of fundamental spin-wave physics and the development of next-generation magnonic devices. In particular, quantifying magnons is key to understanding magnon transport phenomena, the nonlinear regime, or ultrafast magnetization dynamics. Typically, incoherent magnons are accessed by frequency-domain techniques, which lack the temporal resolution required for ultrafast processes, while ultrafast time-domain methods are generally sensitive only to the coherent dynamics. In this work, we demonstrate that femtosecond noise correlation spectroscopy enables a fully quantitative, time-domain measurement of both thermal and coherently excited magnon modes in bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet driven by a free-running microwave. We model the experimental data and extract the magnon number by simulating the magnon band structure of the sample, the magneto-optical response function, and the optical spot size used in the experiment. Our analysis establishes a connection between magnon mode calculations and experimentally accessible magnetic properties and fiducially reproduces the waveform and amplitude of the magneto-optical correlation signal for different experimental conditions. These results open a new pathway towards the optical tomography of magnon modes in non-linear or non-equilibrium conditions and can be readily extended to study ultrafast incoherent dynamics in other condensed matter systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Atomic Layer Deposition of Yttrium Iron Garnet Thin Films for 3D Magnetic Structures

A wide variety of new phenomena such as novel magnetization configurations have been predicted to occur in three dimensional magnetic nanostructures. However, the fabrication of such structures is often challenging due to the specific shapes required, such as magnetic tubes and spirals. Furthermore, the materials currently used to assemble these structures are predominantly magnetic metals that do not allow to study the magnetic response of the system separately from the electronic one. In the field of spintronics, the prototypical material used for such experiments is the ferrimagnetic insulator yttrium iron garnet (Y$_3$Fe$_5$O$_{12}$, YIG). YIG is one of the best materials especially for magnonic studies due to its low Gilbert damping. Here, we report the first successful fabrication of YIG thin films via atomic layer deposition. To that end we utilize a supercycle approach based on the combination of sub-nanometer thin layers of the binary systems Fe$_2$O$_3$ and Y$_2$O$_3$ in the correct atomic ratio on Y$_3$Al$_5$O$_{12}$ substrates with a subsequent annealing step. Our process is robust against typical growth-related deviations, ensuring a good reproducibility. The ALD-YIG thin films exhibit a good crystalline quality as well as magnetic properties comparable to other deposition techniques. One of the outstanding characteristics of atomic layer deposition is its ability to conformally coat arbitrarily-shaped substrates. ALD hence is the ideal deposition technique to grant an extensive freedom in choosing the shape of the magnetic system. The atomic layer deposition of YIG enables the fabrication of novel three dimensional magnetic nanostructures, which in turn can be utilized for experimentally investigating the phenomena predicted in those structures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗