Electric-field coupling to spin waves in a centrosymmetric ferrite

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that electric fields can directly tune spin wave propagation in a ferrite via spin-orbit interaction, enabling efficient control for magnonic device applications.

Contribution

It provides experimental validation and theoretical modeling of electric-field control of spin waves through spin-orbit interaction in a ferrite waveguide.

Findings

Electric fields modulate spin wave velocity via spin-orbit coupling.

Magnetoelectric coupling without spin-orbit interaction is weaker but still affects spin waves.

High-efficiency electric tuning of spin waves is achievable in the exchange regime.

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate that the spin-orbit interaction can be utilized for direct electric-field tuning of the propagation of spin waves in a single-crystal yttrium iron garnet magnonic waveguide. Magnetoelectric coupling not due to the spin-orbit interaction, and hence an order of magnitude weaker, leads to electric-field modification of the spin-wave velocity for waveguide geometries where the spin-orbit interaction will not contribute. A theory of the phase shift, validated by the experiment data, shows that, in the exchange spin wave regime, this electric tuning can have high efficiency. Our findings point to an important avenue for manipulating spin waves and developing electrically tunable magnonic devices.