Interactions between spin wave and magnetic domain structures

非技术描述自旋波是固体材料内部传递能量和信息的有效方法。它被认为是下一代微电子技术的重要组成部分之一。与现有的计算设备相比，基于自旋波的计算设备具有更低的功耗、更高的速度和兼容并行运算的特点。为了实现基于自旋波的计算设备，需要克服一些瓶颈。特别是要控制固体材料内部自旋波的流动。本项目采用一种新颖的机制来控制自旋波流，该机制本身结构紧凑，能耗低。在这个项目中获得的基础知识有直接的微电子应用，可以导致新的设备结构用于信息存储和计算。研究和教育工作确保不同层次的学生从研究中受益，并得到培训，掌握本项目中使用的跨学科技术。该项目不仅教育和培训下一代科学家和工程师，而且还帮助他们在毕业后进入微电子行业。技术描述自旋电流与纳米级磁性结构动力学之间的相互作用研究一直是自旋电子学中非常活跃的研究领域。非均匀磁织构引起的磁电阻和自旋电流引起的磁开关都有重要的工业应用。然而，现有的研究大多采用导电电子携带自旋电流。另一种在固态材料中传递自旋角动量的有用方法，即使用自旋波，尽管理论上预测了自旋波和磁结构之间的相互作用可能引起的丰富物理，但在很大程度上仍未进行实验研究。本项目重点定量研究磁织构对磁振子自旋电流输运的影响，以及磁振子自旋转矩诱导的磁开关。特别是，该项目旨在定量理解自旋波输运与畴壁内部结构以及拓扑磁织构之间的关系。该项目提高了人们对磁振子自旋电流输运的理解，并为控制固体中的磁有序提供了新的方法。该项目可应用于微电子工业，以实现更好的互连，并为信息存储和计算提供新的设备方案。通过该项目建立了综合研究和教育工作，以便K12，本科和研究生水平的学生从研究中受益，他们被训练掌握该项目中使用的跨学科技术，包括材料合成和表征，纳米级器件制造和微波电路设计和测量。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-Technical DescriptionSpin wave is a useful way to transfer energy and information inside solid state materials. It is considered as one of the promising building blocks for next generation microelectronic technologies. Compared with existing computing devices, the ones based on spin wave can have lower power consumption, higher speed and are compatible with parallel operations. In order to realize computing devices based on spin wave, some bottlenecks need to be overcome. Particularly, one has to control the flow of spin wave inside solid materials. This project utilizes a novel mechanism to control the spin wave flow, which is intrinsically compact and consumes little energy. The fundamental knowledge achieved in this project has direct microelectronic applications and can lead to new device structures for information storage and computing. The research and education efforts ensure students at different levels benefit from the research and get trained to master cross-disciplinary techniques used in this project. The project not only educates and trains the next generation scientists and engineers but also assists to place them in microelectronic industry after graduation. Technical DescriptionThe study on the interactions between spin current and the dynamics of nanoscale magnetic structures has been a very active research area within spintronics. The non-uniform magnetic textures-induced magnetoresistance and the spin current-caused magnetic switching have both led to important industrial applications. However, existing research mostly employ conduction electrons to carry spin current. The other useful way of transferring spin angular momentum within solid state materials, i.e., to use spin wave, has remained largely unstudied experimentally, despite the theoretical prediction on the rich physics that can be caused by the interactions between spin wave and magnetic structures. This project focuses on quantitatively studying the influence of magnetic textures on the transport of magnon spin current, as well as the magnonic spin torque induced magnetic switching. Particularly, the project aims to achieve quantitative understanding between spin wave transport and the internal structures of domain wall as well as topological magnetic textures. The project enhances people’s understanding on the spin current transport enabled by magnons and results in new ways of controlling magnetic ordering in solids. This project has applications in microelectronic industry on making better interconnections and leads to new device schemes for information storage and computing. Integrated research and education efforts are established through the project so that students at K12, undergraduate and graduate levels benefit from the research, who are trained to master cross-disciplinary techniques used in this project, including material synthesis and characterization, nanoscale device fabrication and microwave circuit design and measurement.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.