Origin of Nonlinear Damping due to Mode Coupling in Auto-Oscillatory Modes Strongly Driven by Spin-Orbit Torque

TL;DR

This study uncovers the physical origin of nonlinear damping caused by mode coupling in spin-orbit torque-driven auto-oscillations, revealing a temperature-independent magnon scattering process that impacts spin wave dynamics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that nonlinear damping arises from non-thermal magnon scattering, providing new insights into controlling mode interactions in spintronic devices.

Findings

Transition from linewidth narrowing to broadening with drive current

Nonlinear damping and threshold current are temperature independent at high drive

Mode coupling occurs via non-thermal magnon scattering, not thermal processes

Abstract

We investigate the physical origin of nonlinear damping due to mode coupling between several auto-oscillatory modes driven by spin-orbit torque in constricted Py/Pt heterostructures by examining the dependence of auto-oscillation on temperature and applied field orientation. We observe a transition in the nonlinear damping of the auto-oscillation modes extracted from the total oscillation power as a function of drive current, which coincides with the onset of power redistribution amongst several modes and the crossover from linewidth narrowing to linewidth broadening in all individual modes. This indicates the activation of another relaxation process by nonlinear magnon-magnon scattering within the modes. We also find that both nonlinear damping and threshold current in the mode-interaction damping regime at high drive current after transition are temperature independent, suggesting that the mode coupling occurs dominantly through a non-thermal magnon scattering process via a dipole or exchange interaction rather than thermally excited magnon-mediated scattering. This finding presents a promising pathway to overcome the current limitations of efficiently controlling the interaction between two highly nonlinear magnetic oscillators to prevent mode crosstalk or inter-mode energy transfer and deepens understanding of complex nonlinear spin dynamics in multimode spin wave systems.