Publications

Magnetic imaging of superconductors typically requires a soft-magnetic material placed on top of the superconductor to probe local magnetic fields. For reasonable results the influence of the magnet onto the superconductor has to be small. Thin YBCO films with soft-magnetic coatings are investigated using SQUID magnetometry. Detailed measurements of the magnetic moment as a function of temperature, magnetic field and time have been performed for different heterostructures. It is found that the modification of the superconducting transport in these heterostructures strongly depends on the magnetic and structural properties of the soft-magnetic material. This effect is especially pronounced for an inhomogeneous coating consisting of ferromagnetic nanoparticles.

The discovery of the high maximum energy product of 59 MGOe for NdFeB magnets is a breakthrough in the development of permanent magnets with a tremendous impact in many fields of technology. This value is still the world record, for 40 years. This work reports on a reliable and robust route to realize nearly perfectly ordered L1_0-phase FePt nanoparticles, leading to an unprecedented energy product of 80 MGOe at room temperature. Furthermore, with a 3 nm Au coverage, the magnetic polarization of these nanomagnets can be enhanced by 25% exceeding 1.8 T. This exceptional magnetization and anisotropy is confirmed by using multiple imaging and spectroscopic methods, which reveal highly consistent results. Due to the unprecedented huge energy product, this material can be envisaged as a new advanced basic magnetic component in modern micro and nanosized devices.

Room temperature magnetic skyrmions in magnetic multilayers are considered as information carriers for future spintronic applications. Currently, a detailed understanding of the skyrmion stabilization mechanisms is still lacking in these systems. To gain more insight, it is first and foremost essential to determine the full real‐space spin configuration. Here, two advanced X‐ray techniques are applied, based on magnetic circular dichroism, to investigate the spin textures of skyrmions in [Ta/CoFeB/MgO]n multilayers. First, by using ptychography, a high‐resolution diffraction imaging technique, the 2D out‐of‐plane spin profile of skyrmions with a spatial resolution of 10 nm is determined. Second, by performing circular dichroism in resonant elastic X‐ray scattering, it is demonstrated that the chirality of the magnetic structure undergoes a depth‐dependent evolution. This suggests that the skyrmion structure is a complex 3D structure rather than an identical planar texture throughout the layer stack. The analyses of the spin textures confirm the theoretical predictions that the dipole–dipole interactions together with the external magnetic field play an important role in stabilizing sub‐100 nm diameter skyrmions and the hybrid structure of the skyrmion domain wall. This combined X‐ray‐based approach opens the door for in‐depth studies of magnetic skyrmion systems, which allows for precise engineering of optimized skyrmion heterostructures.

Magnetic bistability between vortex and single domain states in nanostructures are of great interest from both fundamental and technological perspectives. In soft magnetic nanostructures, the transition from a uniform collinear magnetic state to a vortex state (or vice versa) induced by a magnetic field involves an energy barrier. If the thermal energy is large enough for overcoming this energy barrier, magnetic bistability with a hysteresis-free switching occurs between the two magnetic states. In this work, we tune this energy barrier by tailoring the composition of FePd alloys, which were deposited onto self-assembled particle arrays forming magnetic vortex structures on top of the particles. The bifurcation temperature, where a hysteresis-free transition occurs, was extracted from the temperature dependence of the annihilation and nucleation field which increases almost linearly with Fe content of the magnetic alloy. This study provides insights into the magnetization reversal process associated with magnetic bistability, which allows adjusting the bifurcation temperature range by the material properties of the nanosystem.

Magnonic quasicrystals exceed the possibilities of spin-wave (SW) manipulation offered by regular magnonic crystals, because of their more complex SW spectra with fractal characteristics. Here, we report the direct x-ray microscopic observation of propagating SWs in a magnonic quasicrystal, consisting of dipolar coupled permalloy nanowires arranged in a one-dimensional Fibonacci sequence. SWs from the first and second band as well as evanescent waves from the band gap between them are imaged. Moreover, additional mini band gaps in the spectrum are demonstrated, directly indicating an influence of the quasiperiodicity of the system. Finally, the localization of SW modes within the Fibonacci crystal is shown. The experimental results are interpreted using numerical calculations and we deduce a simple model to estimate the frequency position of the magnonic gaps in quasiperiodic structures. The demonstrated features of SW spectra in one-dimensional magnonic quasicrystals allow utilizing this class of metamaterials for magnonics and make them an ideal basis for future applications.

Spin waves are excitations in ferromagnetic media that have been proposed as information carriers in spintronic devices with potentially much lower operation power than conventional charge-based electronics. The wave nature of spin waves can be exploited to design majority gates by coding information in their phase and using interference for computation. However, a scalable spin wave majority gate design that can be co-integrated alongside conventional Si-based electronics is still lacking. Here, we demonstrate a reconfigurable nanoscale inline spin wave majority gate with ultrasmall footprint, frequency-division multiplexing, and fan-out. Time-resolved imaging of the magnetisation dynamics by scanning transmission x-ray microscopy reveals the operation mode of the device and validates the full logic majority truth table. All-electrical spin wave spectroscopy further demonstrates spin wave majority gates with sub-micron dimensions, sub-micron spin wave wavelengths, and reconfigurable input and output ports. We also show that interference-based computation allows for frequency-division multiplexing as well as the computation of different logic functions in the same device. Such devices can thus form the foundation of a future spin-wave-based superscalar vector computing platform.

Magnonic crystals are systems that can be used to design and tune the dynamic properties of magnetization. Here, we focus on one-dimensional Fibonacci magnonic quasicrystals. We confirm the existence of collective spin waves propagating through the structure as well as dispersionless modes; the reprogammability of the resonance frequencies, dependent on the magnetization order; and dynamic spin-wave interactions. With the fundamental understanding of these properties, we lay a foundation for the scalable and advanced design of spin-wave band structures for spintronic, microwave, and magnonic applications.

Magnonics research, i.e. the manipulation of spin waves for information processing, is a topic of intense research interest in the past years. FMR, BLS and MOKE measurements lead to tremendous success and advancement of the field. However, these methods are limited in their spatial resolution. X-ray microscopy opens up a way to push to spatial resolutions below 100 nm. Here, we discuss the methodology of STXM for pump-probe data acquisition with single photon counting and arbitrary excitation patterns. Furthermore, we showcase these capabilities using two magnonic crystals as examples: an antidot lattice and a Fibonacci quasicrystal.

In the emerging field of magnonics, spin waves are foreseen as signal carriers for future spintronic information processing and communication devices, owing to both the very low power losses and a high device miniaturization potential predicted for short-wavelength spin waves. Yet, the efficient excitation and controlled propagation of nanoscale spin waves remains a severe challenge. Here, we report the observation of high-amplitude, ultrashort dipole-exchange spin waves (down to 80 nm wavelength at 10 GHz frequency) in a ferromagnetic single layer system, coherently excited by the driven dynamics of a spin vortex core. We used time-resolved x-ray microscopy to directly image such propagating spin waves and their excitation over a wide range of frequencies. By further analysis, we found that these waves exhibit a heterosymmetric mode profile, involving regions with anti-Larmor precession sense and purely linear magnetic oscillation. In particular, this mode profile consists of dynamic vortices with laterally alternating helicity, leading to a partial magnetic flux closure over the film thickness, which is explained by a strong and unexpected mode hybridization. This spin-wave phenomenon observed is a general effect inherent to the dynamics of sufficiently thick ferromagnetic single layer films, independent of the specific excitation method employed.

Spin-wave dynamics were studied in an extended thin film of single-crystalline yttrium iron garnet using time-resolved scanning transmission x-ray microscopy. A combination of mechanical grinding and focused ion beam milling has been utilized to achieve a soft x-ray transparent thickness of the underlying bulk gadolinium gallium garnet substrate. Damon-Eshbach type spin waves down to about 100 nm wavelength have been directly imaged in real space for varying frequencies and external magnetic fields. The dispersion relation extracted from the experimental data agreed well with theoretical predictions. A significant influence of the ion milling process on the local magnetic properties was not detected.

First-order reversal curves (FORCs) are a powerful tool to separate microscopic coercivities and interactions in a system without the need for lateral resolution. However, measured FORC densities are not always straightforward to interpret, especially if the system is interaction dominated and the Preisach-like interpretation of the FORC density breaks down. This is why FORC is often seen as a magnetic fingerprint instead of a measurement method yielding quantitative information. To understand additional features arising from the interactions in the system, we purposely designed permalloy microstructures which violate the Mayergoyz criteria. These artificial systems allow us to isolate the origin of an additional interaction peak in the FORC density. Modeling the system as a superposition of dipoles allows us to extract interaction strength parameters from this static simulation. Additionally, we suggest a linear relation between integrated interaction peak volume and interaction strength within the system. The presented correlation could be used to investigate the interaction behavior of samples as a function of structural parameters within a series of FORC measurements. This is an important step towards a more quantitative understanding of FORCs which violate the Mayergoyz criteria and away from a fingerprint interpretation.

Time-resolved scanning transmission x-ray microscopy has been used for the direct imaging of spin-wave dynamics in a thin film yttrium iron garnet (YIG) with sub-200 nm spatial resolution. Application of this x-ray transmission technique to single-crystalline garnet films was achieved by extracting a lamella (13×5×0.185 μm3) of the liquid phase epitaxy grown YIG thin film out of a gadolinium gallium garnet substrate. Spin waves in the sample were measured along the Damon-Eshbach and backward volume directions of propagation at gigahertz frequencies and with wavelengths in a range between 200 nm and 10 μm. The results were compared to theoretical models. Here, the widely used approximate dispersion equation for dipole-exchange spin waves proved to be insufficient for describing the observed Damon-Eshbach type modes. For achieving an accurate description, we made use of the full analytical theory taking mode-hybridization effects into account.

Magnonics is a potential candidate for beyond CMOS and neuromorphic computing technologies with advanced phase encoded logic. However, nanoscale imaging of spin waves with full phase and magnetization amplitude information is a challenge. We show a generalized scanning transmission x-ray microscopy platform to get a complete understanding of spin waves, including the k-vector, phase, and absolute magnetization deflection angle. As an example, this is demonstrated using a 50 nm thin permalloy film where we find a maximum deflection angle of 1.5° and good agreement with the k-vector dispersion previously reported in the literature. With a spatial resolution approximately ten times better than any other methods for spin wave imaging, x-ray microscopy opens a vast range of possibilities for the observation of spin waves and various magnetic structures.

First-order reversal-curves have proven to be an indispensable characterization tool for physics as well as for geology. However, the conventional evaluation algorithm requires a lot of computational effort for a comparable easy task to overcome measurement noise. In this work, we present a new evaluation approach, which exploits the diversity of Fourier space to not only speed up the calculation by a factor of 1000 but also move away from the conventional smoothing factor toward real field resolution. By comparing the baseline resolution of the new and the old algorithm, we are able to deduce an analytical equation that converts the smoothing factor into field resolution, making the old and new algorithm comparable. We find excellent agreement not only for various systems of increasing complexity but also over a large range of smoothing factors. The achieved speedup enables us to calculate a large number of first-order reversal-curve diagrams with increasing smoothing factor allowing for an autocorrelation approach to find a hard criterion for the optimum smoothing factor. This previously computational prohibitive evaluation of first-order reversal-curves solves the problem of over- and undersmoothing by increasing general readability and preventing information destruction.