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A puzzling insensitivity of magnon spin diffusion to the presence of 180-degree domain walls

Cornell Affiliated Author(s)

Author

Ruofan Li
Lauren Riddiford
Yahong Chai
Minyi Dai
Hai Zhong
Bo Li
Peng Li
Di Yi
Yuejie Zhang
David Broadway
Adrien Dubois
Patrick Maletinsky
Jiamian Hu
Yuri Suzuki
Daniel Ralph
Tianxiang Nan

Abstract

We present room-temperature measurements of magnon spin diffusion in epitaxial ferrimagnetic insulator MgAl0.5Fe1.5O4 (MAFO) thin films near zero applied magnetic field where the sample forms a multi-domain state. Due to a weak uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, the domains are separated primarily by 180° domain walls. We find, surprisingly, that the presence of the domain walls has very little effect on the spin diffusion – nonlocal spin transport signals in the multi-domain state retain at least 95% of the maximum signal strength measured for the spatially-uniform magnetic state, over distances at least five times the typical domain size. This result is in conflict with simple models of interactions between magnons and static domain walls, which predict that the spin polarization carried by the magnons reverses upon passage through a 180° domain wall. © 2023, The Author(s).

Date Published

Journal

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Volume

14

Issue

1

URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85153910579&doi=10.1038%2fs41467-023-38095-3&partnerID=40&md5=9581ee0eb80fe874540eef262d93f000

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-38095-3

Funding Source

N00014-15-1-0045
ACI-1548562
CBET-2006028
NNCI-2025233
FA 9550-20-1-0293
DMR-1719875
52161135103
2021YFA0716500

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