Spin waves in ferromagnetic thin films

TL;DR

This paper models spin wave propagation in ferromagnetic thin films using the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation, revealing how magnetic field and damping influence their behavior and relaxation dynamics.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of spin wave dynamics considering damping and magnetic field effects, offering new insights into their propagation and relaxation in ferromagnetic materials.

Findings

Spin waves propagate at constant velocity proportional to magnetic field strength without damping.

Without magnetic field, spin waves exponentially relax to initial profile as damping approaches zero.

With damping and magnetic field, spin waves quickly relax to easy-axis direction while maintaining constant velocity.

Abstract

A spin wave is the disturbance of intrinsic spin order in magnetic materials. In this paper, a spin wave in the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation is obtained based on the assumption that the spin wave maintains its shape while it propagates at a constant velocity. Our main findings include: (1) in the absence of Gilbert damping, the spin wave propagates at a constant velocity with the increment proportional to the strength of the magnetic field; (2) in the absence of magnetic field, at a given time the spin wave converges exponentially fast to its initial profile as the damping parameter goes to zero and in the long time the relaxation dynamics of the spin wave converges exponentially fast to the easy-axis direction with the exponent proportional to the damping parameter; (3) in the presence of both Gilbert damping and magnetic field, the spin wave converges to the easy-axis direction exponentially fast at a small timescale while propagates at a constant velocity beyond that. These provides a comprehensive understanding of spin waves in ferromagnetic materials.