Reconfigurable heat-induced spin wave lenses

We study the control and manipulation of propagatingspin waves in yttrium irongarnetfilms using a local laser-inducedheating. We show that, due to the refraction ofspin waves in the thermal gradients, the heated region acts as a defocusing lens for Damon-Eshbachspin waves and as a focusing lens for backward volumewaves enablingcollimation of spin-wave beams in the latter case. In addition to the focusing/defocusing functionality, the localheating allows one to manipulate the propagation direction of the spin-wave beams and to efficiently suppress their diffraction spreading by utilizing causticeffects.

Source: Applied Physics Letters - December 7, 2016 Category: Physics Authors: O. Dzyapko, I. V. Borisenko, V. E. Demidov, W. Pernice and S. O. Demokritov Source Type: research