Ubiquity of the spin-orbit induced magnon nonreciprocity in ultrathin ferromagnets

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the widespread occurrence of spin-orbit induced magnon nonreciprocity in ultrathin ferromagnets, showing it can be tuned and inverted by incident electron energy and scattering geometry, with implications for magnonic device design.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of magnon nonreciprocity in multiple systems and reveals the roles of interfacial hybridization and electron beam energy in controlling this phenomenon.

Findings

Magnon nonreciprocity observed in Co/Ni and Co layers on different substrates.

Interfacial hybridization influences but is not essential for nonreciprocity.

Incident electron energy and scattering geometry can tune and invert magnon nonreciprocity.

Abstract

The propagation of magnons along a symmetry path may depend on the direction of propagation, similar to many other quasiparticles in nature. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as nonreciprocity. In addition to the fact that it is of great interest to understand the fundamental physical mechanism leading to this nonreciprocal propagation, the phenomenon of magnon nonreciprocity may be used to design magnon-based logic devices. Recently, it has been demonstrated that a significantly large spin-orbit coupling can lead to giant nonreciprocity of exchange-dominated terahertz magnons, when they are excited by means of spin-polarized electrons [Phys.~Rev.~Lett.~\textbf{132},~126702~(2024)]. Here, by providing experimental results on two additional systems we demonstrate the generality of the observed phenomenon. Comparing the results of a Co/Ni bilayer on Ir(001) to those of a Co double layer on Ir(001) and W(110) we unravel the impact of the interfacial electronic hybridization on the observed phenomenon and provide further insights into the microscopic mechanism leading to this nonreciprocal magnon excitation. It was observed that the interfacial electronic hybridization is of some importance but is not crucial for the magnon nonreciprocity. This is an important observation since the electronic hybridization is known to be a key aspect in the determination of the magnetic properties at the interface. On the other hand the choice of the incident energy of the incoming electron beam is decisive for the observation of the effect. Our results indicate that depending on the energy of the incident electron beam and the scattering geometry the magnon nonreciprocity can be tuned and even be inverted for some ranges of the magnon momentum.