FWF Nano-YIG

Functional layers of nm-thick YIG films and microstructures

This project received funding from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under the Internationl Project programm (project number  I 4696-N).

Duration: 01.10.2019 – 30.04.2023

Principal Investigator: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andrii Chumak 

Scientific Project Staff: Dr. Khrystyna Levchenko (postdoc), Aram Sajdak (master's student), Dr. Sebastian Knauer (postdoc), PD Dr. Oleksandr V. Dobrovolskiy (postdoc)

Partners:

INNOVENT e.V. Technologieentwicklung, Jena
Dr. Carsten Dubs

Department of Physics, TU Kaiserslautern
Jun. Prof. Dr. Philipp Pirro, Prof. Dr. Burkard Hillebrands

A disturbance in the local magnetic order of a solid body can propagate across a material just like a wave. This wave is named spin wave, and its quanta are known as magnons. Physicists from the University of Vienna propose the usage of magnons to carry and process information instead of electrons as it is done in electronics. This technology opens access to a new generation of computers in which data is processed without motion of any real particles like electrons. This prevents the accompanying heat loss and, consequently, leads to a lower energy consumption. Moreover, the unique magnon properties allow for the utilization of alternative computing concepts resulting in a drastic increase in speed and performance compared to modern processors.


The development of new types of magnetic materials, which would be an ideal media for the hosting and controlling of spin waves, is one of the main challenges of modern magnetism. The magnetic insulator Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) is nowadays the material of choice since it possesses the smallest known spin-wave damping and the waves can propagate up to the centimeter distances in it.

The key achievements include in this project include:

(I) the development of methodology to grow the nanometer-thick YIG and YIG-based films of high quality and excellent microwave properties;
(II) the discovery of a novel physical phenomenon of Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) induced by rapid cooling, and means to control it;
(III) the successful nanopatterning of the nm-thick films and the investigation of their spin-wave dispersion;
(IV) discovery of the fast isotropic exchange spin waves and magnonic foldover effects in partially magnetic compensated Ga:YIG thin films followed by the fabrication of logic prototypes;
(V) development of magnetic compensated GaLa:YIG films with robust in-plane magnetic anisotropy;
(VI) performance of nonlinear excitation of self-normalized exchange spin waves;
(VII) observation of a propagating spin wave in a wide temperature range from millikelvin to room temperature;
(VIII) parametric generation of the spin waves in nanoscaled YIG magnonic conduits,
(IX) design of nanoscale spin-wave logic and data-processing prototypes.


The nanoscale YIG films and microstructured surfaces are now available for the fabrication of a wide variety of magnetic devices for digital and analog information transport and processing. The functional layers are suitable for Boolean or wave-based, neuromorphic and non-Boolean devices for conventional and unconventional computing applications, to complement the most advanced CMOS architecture.

Outreach activities

Towards fast exchange magnonics: partially compensated Ga:YIG garnets - Dr. Khrystyna Levchenko

Project publications

Published articles

  • Stimulated amplification of propagating spin waves
    D. Breitbach, M. Schneider, F. Kohl, L. Scheuer, B. Heinz, R. O. Serha, J. Maskill, T. Brächer, B. Lägel, C. Dubs, V. S. Tiberkevich, A. N. Slavin, A. A. Serga, B. Hillebrands, A. V. Chumak, P. Pirro
    Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 156701 (2023)
  • Deeply nonlinear excitation of self-normalized short spin waves
    Q. Wang, R. Verba, B. Heinz, M. Schneider, O. Wojewoda, K. Davídková, K. Levchenko, C. Dubs, N. J. Mauser, M. Urbánek, P. Pirro, A. V. Chumak
    Sci. Adv. 9, eadg4609 (2023)     
  • Propagating spin-wave spectroscopy in nanometer-thick YIG films at millikelvin temperatures
    S. Knauer, K. Davídková, D. Schmoll, R. O. Serha, A. Voronov, Q. Wang, R. Verba, O.V. Dobrovolskiy, M. Lindner, T. Reimann, C. Dubs, M. Urbánek, A. V. Chumak
    J. of Appl. Phys. 133, 143905 (2023)
  • Advances in Magnetics Roadmap on Spin-Wave Computing
    A. V. Chumak, P. Kabos, M. Wu, C. Albert, C. Adelman,  A. Adeyeye, J. Åkerman, F. G. Aliev, A. Anane, A. Awad, C. H. Back, A. Barman, G. E. W. Bauer, M. Becherer, E. N. Beginin, V. A. S. V. Bittencourt, Y. M. Blanter, P. Bortolotti, I. Boventer, D. A. Bozhko, S. A. Bunyaev, J. J. Carmiggelt, R. R. Cheenikundil, F. Ciubotaru, S. Cotofana, G. Csaba, O. V. Dobrovolskiy, C. Dubs, M. Elyasi, K. G. Fripp, H. Fulara, I. A. Golovchanskiy, C. Gonzalez-Ballestero, P. Graczyk, D. Grundler, P. Gruszecki, G. Gubbiotti, K. Guslienko, A. Haldar, S. Hamdioui, R. Hertel, B. Hillebrands, T. Hioki, A. Houshang, C.-M. Hu, H. Huebl, M. Huth, E. Iacocca, M. B. Jungfleisch, G. N. Kakazei, A. Khitun, R. Khymyn, T. Kikkawa, M. Kläui, O. Klein, J. W. Kłos, S. Knauer, S. Koraltan, M. Kostylev, M. Krawczyk, I. N. Krivorotov, V. V. Kruglyak, D. Lachance-Quirion, S. Ladak, R.Lebrun, Y. Li, M. Lindner, R. Macêdo, S. Mayr, G. A. Melkov, S. Mieszczak, Y. Nakamura, H. T. Nembach, A. A. Nikitin, S. A. Nikitov, V. Novosad, J. A. Otalora, Y. Otani, A. Papp, B. Pigeau, P. Pirro, W. Porod, F. Porrati, H. Qin, B. Rana, T. Reimann, F. Riente, O. Romero-Isart, A. Ross, A. V. Sadovnikov, A. R. Safin, E. Saitoh, G. Schmidt, H. Schultheiss, K. Schultheiss, A.A. Serga, S. Sharma, J. M. Shaw, D. Suess, O. Surzhenko , K. Szulc, T. Taniguchi, M. Urbánek, K. Usami, A. B. Ustinov, T. van der Sar, S. van Dijken, V. I. Vasyuchka, R. Verba, S. Viola Kusminskiy, Q. Wang, M. Weides, M. Weiler, S. Wintz, S. P. Wolski, X. Zhang, H. Qin
    IEEE Trans. Magn. 58, 0800172 (2022)  
  • Parametric generation of spin waves in nanoscaled magnonic conduits
    B. Heinz, M. Mohseni, A. Lentfert, R. Verba, M. Schneider, B. Lägel, K. Levchenko, T. Brächer, C. Dubs, A. V. Chumak, and P. Pirro
    Phys. Rev. B 105, 144424 (2022)
  • Fast long-wavelength exchange spin waves in partially-compensated Ga:YIG
    T. Böttcher, M. Ruhwedel, K. O. Levchenko, Q. Wang, H. L. Chumak, M. A. Popov, I. V. Zavislyak, C. Dubs, O. Surzhenko, B. Hillebrands, A. V. Chumak, P. Pirro
    Appl. Phys. Lett. 120, 102401 (2022)
  • Control of the Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons by the Spin Hall effect
    M. Schneider, D. Breitbach, R. Serha, Q. Wang, A. A. Serga, A. N. Slavin, V. S. Tiberkevich, B. Heinz, B. Lägel, T. Brächer, C. Dubs, S. Knauer, O. V. Dobrovolskiy, P. Pirro, B. Hillebrands, A. V. Chumak
    Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 237203 (2021) 
  • Spin-wave dispersion measurement by variable-gap propagating spin-wave spectroscopy
    M. Vaňatka, K. Szulc, O. Wojewoda, C. Dubs, A. V. Chumak, M. Krawczyk, O. V. Dobrovolskiy, J. W. Kłos, M. Urbánek
    Phys. Rev. Appl. 16, 054033 (2021)
  • Stabilization of a nonlinear bullet coexisting with a Bose-Einstein condensate in a rapidly cooled magnonic system driven by a spin-orbit torque
    M. Schneider, D. Breitbach, R. O. Serha, Q. Wang, M. Mohseni, A. A. Serga, A. N. Slavin, V. S. Tiberkevich, B. Heinz, T. Brächer, B. Lägel, C. Dubs, S. Knauer, O. V. Dobrovolskiy, P. Pirro, B. Hillebrands, A. V. Chumak
    Phys. Rev. B 104, L140405 (2021)
  • Stabilization of a nonlinear bullet coexisting with a Bose-Einstein condensate in a rapidly cooled magnonic system driven by a spin-orbit torque
    M. Schneider, D. Breitbach, R. O. Serha, Q. Wang, M. Mohseni, A. A. Serga, A. N. Slavin, V. S. Tiberkevich, B. Heinz, T. Brächer, B. Lägel, C. Dubs, S. Knauer, O. V. Dobrovolskiy, P. Pirro, B. Hillebrands, A. V. Chumak
    Phys. Rev. B 104, L140405 (2021)
  • Long-range spin-wave propagation in transversely magnetized nano-scaled conduits
    B. Heinz, Q. Wang, M. Schneider, E. Weiß, A. Lentfert, B. Lägel, T. Brächer, C. Dubs, O. V. Dobrovolskiy, P. Pirro, A. V. Chumak
    Appl. Phys. Lett. 118, 132406 (2021)
  • Controlling of nonlinear relaxation of quantized magnons in nano-devices
    M. Mohseni, Q. Wang, B. Heinz, M. Kewenig, M. Schneider, F. Kohl, B. Lägel, C. Dubs, A. V. Chumak and P. Pirro
    Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 097202 (2021)
  • Engineered magnetization and exchange stiffness in direct-write Co-Fe nanoelements
    S. A. Bunyaev, B. Budinska, R. Sachser, Q. Wang, K. Levchenko, S. Knauer, A. V. Bondarenko, M. Urbanek, K. Y. Guslienko, A. V. Chumak, M. Huth, G. N. Kakazei, O. V. Dobrovolskiy
    Appl. Phys. Lett. 118, 022408 (2021)
  • Temperature dependence of spin pinning and spin-wave dispersion in nanoscopic ferromagnetic waveguides
    B. Heinz, Q. Wang, R. Verba, V. I. Vasyuchka, M. Kewenig, P. Pirro, M. Schneider, T. Meyer, B. Lägel, C. Dubs, T. Brächer, O. V. Dobrovolskiy, and A. V. Chumak
    Ukr. J. Phys. 65, 1094 (2020)
  • Structural Quality and Magneto-Electric Properties of Epitaxial Layers of the (Ga,Mn)(Bi,As) Dilute Magnetic Semiconductor
    T. Andrearczyk, K. Levchenko, J. Sadowski, J.Z. Domagała, A.Kaleta, P. Dłużewski, J. Wróbel, T. Figielski, T. Wosiński
    Materials 13, 5507 (2020)
  • A magnonic directional coupler for integrated magnonic half adders
    Q. Wang, M. Kewenig, M. Schneider, R. Verba, F. Kohl, B. Heinz, M. Geilen, M. Mohseni, B. Lägel, F. Ciubotaru, C. Adelmann, C. Dubs, S. D. Cotofana, O. V. Dobrovolskiy, T. Brächer, P. Pirro, and A. V. Chumak
    Nat. Electron. 3, 765 (2020)
  • Propagation of coherent spin waves in individual nano-sized yttrium iron garnet magnonic conduits 
    B. Heinz, T. Brächer, M. Schneider, Q. Wang, B. Lägel, A. M. Friedel, D. Breitbach, S. Steinert, T. Meyer, M. Kewenig, C. Dubs, P. Pirro, and A. V. Chumak
    Nano Lett. 20, 6, 4220–4227 (2020)
  • Parametric generation of propagating spin-waves in ultra-thin yttrium iron garnet waveguides
    M. Mohseni, M. Kewenig, R. Verba, Q. Wang, M. Schneider, B. Heinz, C. Dubs, A. A. Serga, B. Hillebrands, A. V. Chumak, P. Pirro
    Phys. Stat. Sol. RRL 14, 2000011 (2020)

Selected prior publications

  • Bose-Einstein condensation of quasi-particles by rapid cooling
    M. Schneider, T. Bracher, V. Lauer, P. Pirro, D. A. Bozhko, A. A. Serga, H. Yu. Musiienko-Shmarova, B. Heinz, Q. Wang, T. Meyer, F. Heussner, S. Keller, E. Th. Papaioannou, B. Lagel, T. Lober, V. S. Tiberkevich, A. N. Slavin, C. Dubs, B. Hillebrands, A.V. Chumak,
    arXiv:1612.07305 (2018)
  • Spin pinning and spin-wave dispersion in nanoscopic ferromagnetic waveguides 
    Q. Wang, B. Heinz, R. Verba, M. Kewenig, P. Pirro, M. Schneider, T. Meyer, B. Lägel, C. Dubs, T. Bräche, and A. V. Chumak
    Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 247202 (2019)
  • Spin-transfer torque based damping control of parametrically excited spin waves in a magnetic insulator
    V. Lauer, D. A. Bozhko, T. Brächer, P. Pirro, V. I. Vasyuchka, A. A. Serga, M. B. Jungfleisch, M. Agrawal, Yu. V. Kobljanskyj, G. A. Melkov, C. Dubs, B. Hillebrands, A. V. Chumak,
    Appl. Phys. Lett. 108, 012402 (2016)
  • Measurements of the exchange stiffness of YIG films using broadband ferromagnetic resonance techniques 
    S. Klingler, A.V. Chumak, T. Mewes, B Khodadadi, C. Mewes, C. Dubs, O. Surzhenko, B. Hillebrands, and A. Conca
    J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48, 015001 (2015) 
  • Spin-wave excitation and propagation in microstructured waveguides of yttrium iron garnet/Pt bilayers
    P. Pirro, T. Brächer, A.V. Chumak, B. Lägel, C. Dubs, O. Surzhenko, P. Görnert, B. Leven and B. Hillebrands
    Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 012402 (2014)
  • Pulsed laser deposition of epitaxial yttrium iron garnet films with low Gilbert damping and bulk-like magnetization
    M.C. Onbasli, A. Kehlberger, D.H. Kim, G. Jakob, M. Kläui, A.V. Chumak, B. Hillebrands, and C.A. Ross
    APL Mater. 2, 106102 (2014)
  • YIG magnonics
    A.A. Serga, A.V. Chumak, and B. Hillebrands
    J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 43, 264002 (2010) (Topical Review)