Topological Characterization of Classical Waves: The Topological Origin of Magnetostatic Surface Spin Waves

Switchable long-distance propagation of chiral magnonic edge states

The coherent spin waves, magnons, can propagate without accompanying charge transports and Joule heat dissipation. Room-temperature and long-distance spin waves propagating within nanoscale spin channels are considered promising for integrated magnonic applications, but experimentally challenging. Here we report that long-distance propagation of chiral magnonic edge states can be achieved at room temperature in manganite thin films with long, antiferromagnetically coupled spin spirals (millimetre length) and low magnetic Gilbert damping (~3.04 × 10-4). By directly observing the non-reciprocal spin-wave propagation and analysing the strong magnon-magnon coupling in the spiral textures, we elucidate the crucial role of the dynamic dipolar interaction on the birth and hybridization of this chiral magnonic edge state. The observed hybridized magnons with robust chirality can be reversibly and selectively switched on/off by different threshold angles under an external field, indicating great potential for the design of versatile magnonic devices at the nanoscale.

Identifying and Constructing Complex Magnon Band Topology

Magnetically ordered materials tend to support bands of coherent propagating spin wave, or magnon, excitations. Topologically protected surface states of magnons offer a new path toward coherent spin transport for spintronics applications. In this work we explore the variety of topological magnon band structures and provide insight into how to efficiently identify topological magnon bands in materials. We do this by adapting the topological quantum chemistry approach that has used constraints imposed by time reversal and crystalline symmetries to enumerate a large class of topological electronic bands. We show how to identify physically relevant models of gapped magnon band topology by using so-called decomposable elementary band representations, and in turn discuss how to use symmetry data to infer the presence of exotic symmetry enforced nodal topology.

Interface modes in planar one-dimensional magnonic crystals

We present the concept of Zak phase for spin waves in planar magnonic crystals and discuss the existence condition of interface modes localized on the boundary between two magnonic crystals with centrosymmetric unit cells. Using the symmetry criterion and analyzing the logarithmic derivative of the Bloch function, we study the interface modes and demonstrate the bulk-to-edge correspondence. Our theoretical results are verified numerically and extended to the case in which one of the magnonic crystals has a non-centrosymmetric unit cells. We show that by shifting the unit cell, the interface modes can traverse between the band gap edges. Our work also investigate the role of the dipolar interaction, by comparison the systems both with exchange interaction only and combined dipolar-exchange interactions.

Tunable Magnonic Chern Bands and Chiral Spin Currents in Magnetic Multilayers

Realization of novel topological phases in magnonic band structures represents a new opportunity for the development of spintronics and magnonics with low power consumption. In this work, we show that in antiparallelly aligned magnetic multilayers, the long-range, chiral dipolar interaction between propagating magnons generates bulk bands with nonzero Chern integers and magnonic surface states carrying chiral spin currents. The surface states are highly localized and can be easily toggled between nontrivial and trivial phases through an external magnetic field. The realization of chiral surface spin currents in this dipolarly coupled heterostructure represents a magnonic implementation of the coupled wire model that has been extensively explored in electronic systems. Our work presents an easy-to-implement system for realizing topological magnonic surface states and low-dissipation spin current transport in a tunable manner.

Chiral Emission of Exchange Spin Waves by Magnetic Skyrmions

Spin waves or their quanta magnons raise the prospect to act as information carriers in the absence of Joule heating. The challenge to excite spin waves with nanoscale wavelengths free of nanolithography becomes a critical bottleneck for the application of nanomagnonics. Magnetic skyrmions are chiral magnetic textures at the nanoscale. In this work, short-wavelength exchange spin waves are demonstrated to be chirally emitted in a low damping magnetic insulating thin film by magnetic skyrmions. The spin-wave chirality originates from the chiral spin pumping effect and is determined by the cross product of the magnetization orientation and the film normal direction. The Halbach effect explains the enhancement or attenuation of the spin-wave amplitude with a reversed sign of the Dyzaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Controllable spin-wave propagation is demonstrated by rotating a moderate applied field. Our findings are key for building compact low-power nanomagnonic devices based on intrinsic nanoscale magnetic textures.

Chiral Spin-Wave Velocities Induced by All-Garnet Interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction in Ultrathin Yttrium Iron Garnet Films

Spin waves can probe the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), which gives rise to topological spin textures, such as skyrmions. However, the DMI has not yet been reported in yttrium iron garnet (YIG) with arguably the lowest damping for spin waves. In this work, we experimentally evidence the interfacial DMI in a 7-nm-thick YIG film by measuring the nonreciprocal spin-wave propagation in terms of frequency, amplitude, and most importantly group velocities using all electrical spin-wave spectroscopy. The velocities of propagating spin waves show chirality among three vectors, i.e., the film normal direction, applied field, and spin-wave wave vector. By measuring the asymmetric group velocities, we extract a DMI constant of 16  μJ/m^{2}, which we independently confirm by Brillouin light scattering. Thickness-dependent measurements reveal that the DMI originates from the oxide interface between the YIG and garnet substrate. The interfacial DMI discovered in the ultrathin YIG films is of key importance for functional chiral magnonics as ultralow spin-wave damping can be achieved.