arXiv subjects

Thibaut Devolder

Publications and source records attributed to Thibaut Devolder.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Spin-wave softening across the uniform-to-stripe domain transition in iron garnet film

Spin-wave spectra across transitions between uniform and textured phases can offer deep insight into both symmetry-breaking physics and self-assembled magnonic bands. However, experiments require a material platform that combines low damping, well-defined textures, and spectroscopic access. Here, we study a Bi-doped iron-garnet film with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), which undergoes a uniform-to-stripe-domain transition as a function of in-plane magnetic field. Real-space imaging by magnetic force microscopy reveals field-reorientable stripe domains aligned with the in-plane field, while reciprocal-space measurements using thermal microfocused Brillouin light scattering ($\mu$-BLS) reveal the softening of a low-frequency spin-wave branch near the transition and the appearance of additional modes in the stripe-domain state. Calculated dispersion relations identify finite-$k$ softening in the Damon-Eshbach geometry ($k \perp M$), with the corresponding wavelength matching the stripe periodicity at the transition. In addition, a $\mu$-BLS spectral model reproduces the measured mode frequencies and relative intensities at selected fixed fields. Micromagnetic simulations capture the field-driven formation of the stripe state and reproduce the experimental thermal $\mu$-BLS spectra. Our findings establish BiYIG with PMA as a model low-damping platform for studying spin-wave freezing, stripe-domain modes, and reconfigurable magnonic band structures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Guidelines for interpreting microfocused Brillouin light scattering spectra

We present an analysis of the influence of spin wave dispersion relations and profiles on microfocused Brillouin Light Scattering spectra. Three archetypal magnetic materials are reported: a 51-nm thick Bi-substituted YIG, a 25-nm thick Heusler compound and 50-nm thick CoFeB alloy. These samples were chosen because they exhibit strongly contrasting spectral features -peak frequencies, linewidth, skewness. The shapes of these spectral features reflect the underlying spin wave dispersion relations and the thickness profile of the related spin wave modes. While analytical expressions of the dispersion relations provide a satisfactory description of the spectra if the modes are in separate frequency domains, the exact dispersion relations and the exact mode profiles are required for a correct description of the spectra not only when mode hybridization is present in the range or near the range of frequencies and wavevector accessed by the experiment. Our examples of microfocused BLS spectra are handy references that can be used as interpretation guidelines for BLS spectra recorded on a broader range of materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Predicting the future with magnons

Forecasting complex, chaotic signals is a central challenge across science and technology, with implications ranging from secure communications to climate modeling. Here we demonstrate that magnons - the collective spin excitations in magnetically ordered materials - can serve as an efficient physical reservoir for predicting such dynamics. Using a magnetic microdisk in the vortex state as a magnon-scattering reservoir, we show that intrinsic nonlinear interactions transform a simple microwave input into a high-dimensional spectral output suitable for reservoir computing, in particular, for time series predictions. Trained on the Mackey-Glass benchmark, which generates a cyclic yet aperiodic time series widely used to test machine-learning models, the system achieves accurate and reliable predictions that rival state-of-the-art physical reservoirs. We further identify key design principles: spectral resolution governs the trade-off between dimensionality and accuracy, while combining multiple device geometries systematically improves performance. These results establish magnonics as a promising platform for unconventional computing, offering a path toward scalable and CMOS-compatible hardware for real-time prediction tasks.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Electrical detection of magnons with nanoscale magnetic tunnel junctions

Present information and communication technologies are largely based on electronic devices, which suffer from heat generation and high power consumption. Alternatives like spintronics and magnonics, which harness the spin degree of freedom, offer compelling pathways to overcome these fundamental limitations of charge-based electronics. Magnonics relies on spin waves, the collective excitations of magnetic moments in magnetically ordered materials, to achieve processing and transport of information at microwave frequencies without relying on charge currents. However, efficient means for all-electrical, high-resolution, semiconductor-compatible readout of information encoded in spin waves are still missing. Here, we demonstrate the electrical detection of spin waves using a nanoscale magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) cell fabricated in a state-of-the-art complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) production line. By engineering the dynamic coupling between spin waves and the magnetization state of the MTJ, we demonstrate transduction of spin-wave excitations into measurable electrical signals with high fidelity. Moreover, through these measurements, we find spectral line widths, associated with nonlinear processes, down to a few hundreds of kHz, which opens up new perspectives for spin waves as quantum transducers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Self-induced Floquet states via three-wave processes in synthetic antiferromagnets

We present a mechanism for self-induced Floquet states involving acoustic and optical modes in synthetic antiferromagnets. By driving optical modes off-resonantly with radiofrequency fields in the canted antiferromagnetic state, limit cycles arising from the predator-prey dynamics of the acoustic and optical mode populations can appear. The cyclic growth and decay of these mode populations induce a time-periodic modulation of the canted state, which subsequently generates Floquet states. These states appear as a rich frequency comb in the power spectrum of magnetization oscillations.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Spin waves involved in three-magnon splitting in synthetic antiferromagnets

An important nonlinear effect in magnonics is the 3-magnon splitting where a high frequency magnon splits into two magnons of lower frequencies. Here, we study the 3-magnon splitting in spin wave conduits made from synthetic antiferromagnets. By combining inductive excitation, inductive detection, Brillouin Light Scattering imaging of the spin waves and analytical modeling based on conservation laws, we elucidate the nature of the spin waves involved in this process. We show in particular that low order optical spin waves propagating along the conduit can split in doublets of non-degenerate acoustic spin waves that have a standing wave character in the confined direction and unsymmetrical wavevectors in the direction of the spin wave conduit. Generally, several splitting channels run in parallel. The rules governing the three-magnon splitting and its interplay with the mode confinement have consequences for the applications in non-linear microwave signal processing based on spin waves.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Method of analysis of the spectra obtained by microfocused Brillouin light scattering

Brillouin Light Scattering is a powerful technique to measure the microwave excitations present in a magnetic system. In microfocused mode, the light is focused on the sample using a microscope objective. This accelerates substantially the measurement but results in mixing the response of all microwave excitations into a single spectrum, such that modeling is required to disentangle the contribution of each spin wave. By assuming that a spectrum collected in microfocused mode can be approximated by the sum of all back-scattering spectra that can be collected by the microscope objective, we develop a simple and direct way of interpreting spectra. The model is compared to experimental data collected on a 50 nm thick CoFeB magnetic film. The model allows the understanding of the influence of the optical properties of a sample, of the dispersion relation of the spin wave eigenexcitations and of their thickness profiles, as well as of their populations onto the magnitudes and the lineshapes of the characteristic features of a spectrum

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Role of non-reciprocity in spin-wave channeling

The extent to which non-reciprocal waves can be guided in arbitrary directions is an interesting question. We address one aspect of this problem by studying the propagation of acoustic spin waves in a narrow physical conduit made of a synthetic antiferromagnet. Through a combination of Brillouin Light Scattering microscopy and modeling, we demonstrate that even when attempting to guide waves in the reciprocal direction of the material, the system still exhibits strong signatures of non-reciprocity. This includes the excitation of high wavevector waves in the direction perpendicular to the intended channeling, as well as energy transfer in directions that often neither aligns with the physical conduit nor with the symmetry axes of the magnetic properties. These findings have implications for the modeling of propagating wave spectroscopy in non-reciprocal materials and their potential applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Correlation between structural and magnetic properties of epitaxial YIG films by pulsed laser deposition

In this study, we investigate the relationships between film growth conditions, crystalline microstructure, and magnetic properties of epitaxial Yttrium Iron Garnet (Y$_3$Fe$_5$O$_{12}$, YIG) thin films, deposited on Gallium Gadolinium Garnet (Ga$_3$Gd$_5$O$_{12}$, GGG). A direct correlation was observed between the residual epitaxial strain, bulk magnetic properties like saturation magnetization and magnetic damping), and the performance of spin-wave transmission devices based on these films. This correlation offers a pathway for a simplified, rapid assessment of YIG film quality, avoiding the need for complex time-consuming characterization techniques. In addition, we report a comprehensive investigation into the influence of pulsed-laser deposition parameters, including deposition temperature, pressure, laser fluence, frequency, and annealing conditions. Through systematic deposition optimization, state-of-the-art YIG films exhibiting ultralow magnetic damping could be obtained, which is critical for high-performance spintronic applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Symmetry of the dissipation of surface acoustic waves by ferromagnetic resonance

We study the symmetry of the coupling between surface acoustic waves and ferromagnetic resonance in a thin magnetic film of CoFeB deposited on top of a piezoelectric Z-cut LiNbO3 substrate. We vary the orientation of the applied magnetic field with respect to the wavevector of the surface acoustic wave. Experiments indicate an unexpected 2-fold symmetry of the absorption of the SAW energy by the magnetic film. We discuss whether this symmetry can arise from the magnetoelastic torque of the longitudinal strain and the magnetic susceptibility of ferromagnetic resonance. We find that one origin of the 2-fold symmetry can be the weak in-plane uniaxial anisotropy present within the magnetic film. This phenomena adds to the previously identified other source of 2-fold symmetry but shall persist for ultrathin films when the dipolar interactions cease to contribute to the anisotropy of the slope of the spin wave dispersion relation.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Self-induced Floquet magnons in magnetic vortices

Driving condensed matter systems with periodic electromagnetic fields can result in exotic states not found in equilibrium. Termed Floquet engineering, such periodic driving applied to electronic systems can tailor quantum effects to induce topological band structures and control spin interactions. However, Floquet engineering of magnon band structures in magnetic systems has proven challenging so far. Here, we present a class of Floquet states in a magnetic vortex that arise from nonlinear interactions between the vortex core and microwave magnons. Floquet bands emerge through the periodic oscillation of the core, which can be initiated by either driving the core directly or pumping azimuthal magnon modes. For the latter, the azimuthal modes induce core gyration through nonlinear interactions, which in turn renormalizes the magnon band structure. This represents a self-induced mechanism for Floquet band engineering and offers new avenues to study and control nonlinear magnon dynamics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Theory of propagating spin wave spectroscopy using inductive antennas: conditions for unidirectional energy flow

Many recent papers report on the interest of spin waves for applications. This paper revisits the propagating spin wave spectroscopy when using inductive transceivers connected to a network analyzer. The spin wave conduit can be made of a non-reciprocal material. The formalism offers a method to understand, design and optimize devices harnessing propagating spin waves, including when a unidirectional energy flow is desired. The concept of the mismatch of helicity between the spin wave and the magnetic field radiated by antennas is first clarified. Owing to the form of the susceptibility tensor reflecting the precession ellipticity, there exists specific orientations of the wavevector for which a perfect helicity mismatch is reached. The spin waves with this orientation and this direction of wavevector are "dark" in the sense that they do not couple with the inductive antenna. This leads to single-sided wavevector generation, that should not to be confused with a unidirectional emission of energy. A method to calculate the antenna-to-antenna transmission parameter is then provided. Analytical approximations are then applied on situations that illustrate the respective role of the direction of the spin wave wavevector versus that of the group velocity. The often-encountered cases of spin waves possessing either a V-shaped or a flat dispersion relation are revisited. These reciprocal dispersion relations lead to amplitude non-reciprocity because of the helicity mismatch phenomenon. Conversely, for spin waves with a line-shaped dispersion relation, a quasi-unidirectional emission of spin waves occurs. This situation can be obtained when using the acoustical spin waves of synthetic antiferromagnets when the wavevector is close to parallel to the applied field. We finally show that this configuration can be harnessed to design reconfigurable frequency filters.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2021

Resonant dynamics of skyrmion lattices in thin film multilayers: Localised modes and spin wave emission

The spectral signatures of magnetic skyrmions under microwave field excitation are of fundamental interest and can be an asset for high frequency applications. These topological solitons can be tailored in multilayered thin films, but the experimental observation of their spin wave dynamics remains elusive, in particular due to large damping. Here, we study Pt/FeCoB/AlO$_x$ multilayers hosting dense and robust skyrmion lattices at room temperature with Gilbert damping of $\sim 0.02$. We use magnetic force microscopy to characterise their static magnetic phases and broadband ferromagnetic resonance to probe their high frequency response. Micromagnetic simulations reproduce the experiments with accuracy and allow us to identify distinct resonant modes detected in the skyrmion lattice phase. Low ($<$ 2 GHz) and intermediate frequency ($2-8$ GHz) modes involve excitations localised to skyrmion edges in conjunction with precession of the uniform background magnetisation, while a high frequency ($>$ 12 GHz) mode corresponds to in-phase skyrmion core precession emitting spin waves into uniform background with wavelengths in the 50--80 nm range commensurate with the lattice structure. These findings could be instrumental in the investigation of room temperature wave scattering and the implementation of novel microwave processing schemes in reconfigurable arrays of solitons.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Reconfigurable sub-micron spin-wave majority gate with electrical transducers

Spin waves are excitations in ferromagnetic media that have been proposed as information carriers in hybrid spintronic devices with much lower operation power than conventional charge-based electronics. Their wave nature can be exploited in majority gates by using interference for computation. However, a scalable spin-wave majority gate that can be co-integrated alongside conventional electronics is still lacking. Here, we demonstrate a sub-micron inline spin-wave majority gate with fan-out. Time-resolved imaging of the magnetization dynamics by scanning transmission x-ray microscopy illustrates the device operation. All-electrical spin-wave spectroscopy further demonstrates majority gates with sub-micron dimensions, reconfigurable input and output ports, and frequency-division multiplexing. Challenges for hybrid spintronic computing systems based on spin-wave majority gates are discussed.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2021

Nanocontact vortex oscillators based on Co$_2$MnGe pseudo-spin valves

We present an experimental study of vortex dynamics in magnetic nanocontacts based on pseudo spin valves comprising the Co$_2$MnGe Heusler compound. The films were grown by molecular beam epitaxy, where precise stoichiometry control and tailored stacking order allowed us to define the bottom ferromagnetic layer as the reference layer, with minimal coupling between the free and reference layers. 20-nm diameter nanocontacts were fabricated using a nano-indentation technique, leading to self-sustained gyration of the vortex generated by spin-transfer torques above a certain current threshold. By combining frequency- and time-domain measurements, we show that different types of spin-transfer induced dynamics related to different modes associated to the magnetic vortex configuration can be observed, such as mode hopping, mode coexistence and mode extinction appear in addition to the usual gyration mode.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

First experimental demonstration of a scalable linear majority gate based on spin waves

We report on the first experimental demonstration of majority logic operation using spin waves in a scaled device with an in-line input and output layout. The device operation is based on the interference of spin waves generated and detected by inductive antennas in an all-electrical microwave circuit. We demonstrate the full truth table of a majority logic function with the ability to distinguish between strong and weak majority, as well as an inverted majority function by adjusting the operation frequency. Circuit performance projections predict low energy consumption of spin wave based compared to CMOS for large arithmetic circuits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Spin-torque induced wall motion in perpendicularly magnetized discs: ballistic versus oscillatory behavior

We use time-resolved measurement and modeling to study the spin-torque induced motion of a domain wall in perpendicular anisotropy magnets. In disc of diameters between 70 and 100 nm, the wall drifts across the disc with pronounced back-and-forth oscillations that arise because the wall moves in the Walker regime. Several switching paths occur stochastically and lead to distinct switching durations. The wall can cross the disc center either in a ballistic manner or with variably marked oscillations before and after the crossing. The crossing of the center can even occur multiple times if a vertical Bloch line nucleates within the wall. The wall motion is analyzed using a collective coordinate model parametrized by the wall position $q$ and the tilt $ϕ$ of its in-plane magnetization projection. The dynamics results from the stretch field, which describes the affinity of the wall to reduce its length and the wall stiffness field describing the wall tendency to reduce dipolar energy by rotating its tilt. The wall oscillations result from the continuous exchange of energy between to the two degrees of freedom $q$ and $ϕ$. The stochasticity of the wall dynamics can be understood from the concept of the retention pond: a region in the $q-ϕ$ space in which walls are transiently bound to the disc center. Walls having trajectories close to the pond must circumvent it and therefore have longer propagation times. The retention pond disappears for a disc diameter of typically 40 nm: the wall then moves in a ballistic manner irrespective of the dynamics of its tilt. The propagation time is then robust against fluctuations hence reproducible.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Stochastic processes in magnetization reversal involving domain wall motion in magnetic memory elements

We show experimentally through time-resolved conductance measurements that magnetization reversal through domain wall motion in sub-100 nm diameter magnetic tunnel junctions is dominated by two distinct stochastic effects. The first involves the incubation time related to domain wall nucleation, while the second results from stochastic motion in the Walker regime. Micromagnetics simulations reveal several contributions to temporal pinning of the wall near the disk center, including Bloch point nucleation and wall precession. We show that a reproducible ballistic motion is recovered when Bloch and Néel wall profiles become degenerate in energy in optimally sized disks, which enables quasi-deterministic motion.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗