Interactions between spin wave and magnetic domain structures

非技术描述自旋波是一种在固态材料内部传递能量和信息的有用方法。它被认为是下一代微电子技术的重要组成部分。与现有的计算设备相比，基于自旋波的计算设备可以具有更低的功耗、更高的速度和兼容并行操作。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，人们必须控制自旋波在固体材料中的流动。该项目利用一种新的机制来控制自旋波流，这种机制本质上是紧凑的，消耗的能量很少。在这个项目中获得的基本知识具有直接的微电子应用，并可能导致用于信息存储和计算的新的设备结构。研究和教育努力确保不同水平的学生从研究中受益，并接受掌握该项目所使用的跨学科技术的培训。该项目不仅教育和培训下一代科学家和工程师，还帮助他们在毕业后进入微电子行业。自旋电流与纳米尺度磁结构动力学相互作用的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具有重要的工业应用价值。然而，现有的研究大多使用传导电子来携带自旋电流。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与磁结构之间的相互作用可能产生丰富的物理，但在实验上仍未得到很大程度的研究。本项目致力于定量研究磁织构对磁振子自旋电流输运的影响，以及磁子自旋扭矩引起的磁开关。特别是，该项目的目的是实现对自旋波输运和磁畴壁内部结构以及拓扑磁性织构之间的定量理解。该项目加深了人们对磁子引起的自旋电流输运的理解，并导致了控制固体中磁有序的新方法。该项目在微电子工业中有更好的互连应用，并产生了新的信息存储和计算设备方案。通过该项目建立了综合的研究和教育努力，使K12、本科生和研究生水平的学生从研究中受益，他们接受了掌握该项目中使用的跨学科技术的培训，包括材料合成和表征、纳米器件制造和微波电路设计和测量。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.