In a joint undertaking, Dr. Delin Zhang and co-authors from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and the School of Physics and Astronomy have reported direct observation of magnon-phonon coupling in time and frequency domains under femtosecond laser excitation. Based on their observations, the team have also proposed a theoretical model explaining the physical mechanism underlying this strain-spin interaction, and the results of their work are reported in “High-frequency magnetoacoustic resonance through strain-spin coupling in perpendicular magnetic multilayers,” published in Science Advances. The work is significant for the impact it could have on applications in cloud storage, advanced spin memory, logic, and other spintronic devices.

Science Advances

The observation the coupling of magnons and phonons in both time and frequency domains upon femtosecond laser Excitation: This strain-spin coupling leads to a magnetoacoustic resonance in perpendicular magnetic [Co/Pd]n multilayers, reaching frequencies in the extremely high frequency (EHF) band, e.g., 60 GHz.  Meanwhile, if the strain with an amplitude of 0.5% is applied in the perpendicular magnetic [Co/Pd]n multilayers, the system shows a large-angle magnetization precession and Its magnetization switching occurs in 3 ns.

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