Resonant and off-resonant magnetoacoustic waves in epitaxial Fe$_3$Si/GaAs hybrid structures

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the generation and imaging of resonant and off-resonant magnetoacoustic waves in Fe$_3$Si/GaAs hybrid structures using surface acoustic waves, revealing significant magnetoelastic coupling and large shear strain.

Contribution

It introduces a hybrid device combining GaAs and Fe$_3$Si to quantify magnetoacoustic waves and verifies the large magnetoelastic shear strain through simulations.

Findings

Resonant and off-resonant magnetoelastic coupling observed.

Large magnetoelastic shear strain in Fe$_3$Si ($b_2=14×10^6$ J/m$^3$).

Magnetic imaging confirms the experimental behavior.

Abstract

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) provide an efficient dynamical coupling between strain and magnetization in micro/nano-metric devices. Using a hybrid device composed of a piezoelectric, GaAs, and a ferromagnetic Heusler alloy thin film, Fe$_3$Si, we are able to quantify the amplitude of magnetoacoustic waves generated with SAWs via magnetic imaging in an X-ray photoelectron microscope. The cubic anisotropy of the sample together with a low damping coefficient allows for the observation of resonant and non-resonant magnetoelastic coupling. Additionally, via micromagnetic simulation, we verify the experimental behavior and quantify the magnetoelastic shear strain component in Fe$_3$Si that appears to be very large ($b_2=14\times 10^6$ J/m$^3$), much larger than the one found in Nickel.