Tuning spin excitations in magnetic films by confinement

TL;DR

This study investigates how spin excitations in Fe thin films change with thickness, revealing confinement effects that allow tuning magnetic properties for spintronic applications.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of thickness-dependent evolution of ferromagnons in mesoscopic Fe films using Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering.

Findings

Ferromagnons are isotropic and dispersive in bulk-like Fe films.

Ferromagnons become anisotropic and lower in energy as thickness decreases.

Heisenberg model explains confinement effects on spin excitations.

Abstract

Spin excitations of magnetic thin films are the founding element for novel transport concepts in spintronics, magnonics, and magnetic devices in general. While spin dynamics have been extensively studied in bulk materials, their behaviour in mesoscopic films is less known due to experimental limitations. Here, we employ Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering to investigate the spin excitation spectrum in mesoscopic Fe films, from bulk-like down to 3 unit cells thick. In bulk-like samples, we find isotropic, dispersive ferromagnons consistent with the dispersion observed by neutron scattering in bulk single crystals. As the thickness is reduced, these ferromagnons survive and evolve anisotropically: renormalising to lower energies along the out-of-plane direction while retaining their dispersion in the in-plane direction. This thickness dependence is captured by simple Heisenberg model calculations accounting for the confinement in the out-of-plane direction through the loss of Fe bonds. Our findings highlight the effects of mesoscopic scaling on spin dynamics and identify thickness as a knob for fine-tuning and controlling magnetic properties in films.