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Spintronics is a newly emerging field in physics, aimed at using the spin of electrons to carry information. One of the primary ways in which this could be done is through the use of spin waves. In order to do this, it will be necessary to have a complete understanding of spin waves and how they behave in various materials and structures. In this dissertation, we aim to create a thorough model of spin waves in both one-dimensional and two-dimensional magnonic crystals in an effort to understand and control their dispersion properties and propagation patterns. Using the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation, we have derived a model for spin waves in magnonic crystals that allowed us to calculate their dispersion and propagation properties. In the first part of this work we considered two-dimensional magnonic crystals consisting of magnetic cylinders arrange in a lattice and embedded in a second magnetic material. The dispersion relations were found to be heavily dependent on the magnetic properties of the two materials, with band gaps appearing more readily when the magnetization was larger in the cylinders than in the host. It was also found that the dipolar field reduced the symmetry of the results, with reflection symmetry not appearing in the dispersion relations even when it was present in the physical lattice. For the propagation of spin waves in two-dimensional magnonic crystals, we found that their directionality was highly dependent on changes in frequency. Propagation patterns varied from roughly isotropic for spin waves in the middle of a band level, to highly directional propagation along the x and y axes for a frequency near the edge of a band. The absence of propagation was also found for frequencies in a band gap. For spin waves in one-dimensional magnonic crystals, we investigated the effects of applying an electric field to the system. When a uniform electric field was applied to a magnonic crystal consisting of a periodic variation in magnetic materials, the band levels were found to shift downward in frequency, with the magnitude of the shift being dependent on the strength of the electric field. While this method could move existing band gaps, it was not capable of creating a band gap in the dispersion relations. Creation of band gaps was found to occur when a periodically varying electric field was applied to a uniform magnetic material. This effect could be used to create a magnonic device where the dispersion properties can be dynamically controlled with an electric field.

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This thesis describes the experimental investigation of three different strongly correlated transition-metal oxide systems. The magnetic behaviour of each has been probed using inelastic neutron spectroscopy. A distinctive hour-glass excitation spectrum has been observed in the layered cobaltate La_1.75Sr_0.25CoO₄. This spectrum is similar to that measured in a related cobaltate La_1.67Sr_0.33CoO₄, although it appears broader. The spectrum has been reproduced using a spin wave model derived from a disordered cluster spin glass ground state. Signatures of spin glass behaviour have also been observed in bulk magnetisation measurements of La_1.75Sr_0.25CoO₄. These findings, once more, demonstrate the emergence of an hour-glass spectrum from a ground state that combines quasi-one dimensional magnetic correlations and disorder. Additionally, this study shows that charge and magnetic stripe order persists to lower dopings in La_2-xSr_xCoO₄ than previously thought. The complete magnetic excitation spectrum of the multiferroic compound CuO has been measured for the first time. A high energy, one-dimensional magnetic spectrum is observed and modelled using the Muller ansatz derived for the S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain. At lower energies, a three-dimension spectrum is observed. The measured spectrum is inconsistent with all previous theoretical estimates of the dominant inter-chain exchange interactions in CuO. The inter-chain dispersion is successfully described by a phenomenological model based on linear spin wave theory. The third material investigated, LuFe₂O₄ demonstrates complex charge and magnetic order, the precise nature of which is still under debate. The full spectrum of in-plane excitations in LuFe₂O₄ has been measured and a complicated dispersion consistent with six magnetic modes is observed. These findings are compatible with structures described by a magnetic unit cell containing six spins. The dispersion can be described by a spin wave model derived from a bilayer structure comprised of charge-rich and charge-poor monolayers. This structure is consistent with the original site-specific model for the 3D magnetic ordering in LuFe₂O₄.

Two of the principal phenomena observed and exploited in the field of spintronics are giant magnetoresistance (GMR) and spin transfer torque (STT). With GMR, the resistance of a magnetic multilayer is affected by the relative orientation of its magnetic layers due to (electron) spin dependent scattering. For the STT effect, a spin-polarized electric current is used to alter the magnetic state of a ferromagnet. Together, GMR and STT are at the foundation of numerous technologies, and they hold promise for many more applications. To achieve the high current densities (~10¹² A/m²) that are necessary to observe STT effects, point contacts – constricted electrical pathways (~1–100 nm in diameter) between conducting materials – are often used because of their small cross-sectional areas. In this sense, we have explored STT in bilayer magnetic nanopillars, where an electric current was used to induce precession of a ferromagnetic layer. This precessional state was detected as an increase in resistance of the device, akin to GMR. Temperature dependent measurements of the onset of precession shed light on the activation mechanism, but raised further questions about its detailed theory. Point contacts can also be used as local sources or detectors of electrons. In this context, we have observed transverse electron focusing (TEF) in a single crystal of bismuth. TEF is a k-selective technique for studying electron scattering from within materials. Using lithographically fabricated point contacts, we have studied the temperature dependence of the relaxation time for ballistic electrons from 4.2 to 100 K. These measurements indicated a transition between electron-electron dominated scattering at low temperatures and electron-phonon scattering as the Debye temperature was approached. We present preliminary work toward a TEF experiment to measure spin dependent scattering from a non-magnet/magnet interface. We also investigated spin wave propagation in thin, magnetic waveguide structures. At the boundary between the waveguide and continuous magnetic film, spin wave rays were found to radiate into the film, or to reflect and form standing waves in the waveguide. A circular defect in the waveguide was observed to cause diffraction of spin waves, generating an interference pattern of higher modes of oscillation. / text

The manufacturing of nanocontact-based spin-torque oscillators (NC-STOs)has opened the door for spintronic devices to play a part as active microwaveelements. The NC-STO has the capability of converting a direct current intoa microwave signal, and vice versa, by utilizing the spin transfer torque (STT)in ferromagnetic multilayer systems. However, the high-frequency operation ofNC-STOs typically requires high magnetic fields and the microwave power theygenerate is rather limited. As a result, NC-STOs are not yet commercially used,and they require improvements in both material systems and device geometriesbefore they can find actual use in microwave applications. In order to improve and advance this technology, NC-STOs are requiredwith both different nanocontact (NC) sizes and geometries, and using differ- ent stacks of magnetic materials. This dissertation presents experimental in- vestigations into the manufacturing of such devices using different fabrication techniques and a number of different magnetic material stacks. Currently, the fabrication of NC-STOs is limited to advanced laboratories, because NC fabri- cation requires high-resolution lithography tools. In the present work, we have developed an alternative method of fabrication, which does not require such tools and has the capability of fabricating NC-STOs having one to hundreds of NCs in a variety of sizes, possibly  down to 20 nm. Devices fabricated with this method have shown mutual synchronization of three parallel-connected NCs, and pairwise synchronization in devices with four and five NCs. Furthermore, the present work demonstrates low-field operation (down to0.02 Tesla) of NC-STOs at a record high frequency of 12 GHz. This wasachieved by implementing multilayers with a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy(PMA) material in the free layer of the NC-STO. In addition, the fabricateddevices revealed an unexpected dynamic regime under large external appliedfield (above 0.4 Tesla). The new dynamic regime was found to be due to anentirely novel nanomagnetic dynamic object â a so-called magnetic droplet soliton,predicted theoretically in 1977 but not experimentally observed until now.Detailed experiments and micromagnetic simulations show that the droplet hasvery rich dynamics. Finally,  spin-torque-induced  transverse spin wave instabilities have beenstudied.  A NC-STO with  a material stack consisting of a single ferromag- netic metal sandwiched between two non-ferromagnetic metals was fabricated. Prior to this work, evidence of spin wave instabilities was reported as resis- tance switching in nanopillar- and mechanical point contact based STOs. In the present  work, the fabricated NC-STOs showed actual microwave  signals up to 3 GHz under zero applied field with strong current hysteresis. All  the fabricated NC-STOs open up new means of studying STT in different environ- ments, in order to resolve their current drawbacks for industrial applications. / <p>QC 20130527</p>

[pt] Propomos um hamiltoniano de spin para descrever as propriedades térmicas e magnéticas de uma série de borocarbetos. O efeito do campo elétrico cristalino é aproximado por um campo magnético efetivo.Aplicamos a teoria de onda de spin e encontramos a relação de dispersão e a densidade apenas se desloca rigidamente em energia. A partir destes resultados calculamos a contribuição dos magnons ao calor específico molar com e sem campo magnético externo. O efeito do campo externo, porém é pequeno.A seguir calculamos a magnetização de subrede a T=0K, a qual sofre uma pequena redução devido às flutuações quânticas, em relação ao valor iônico obtido pela regra de Hund. Encontrmos também a magnetização em função da temperatura, com e sem aplicação de campo magnético. Com esse modelo conseguimos descrever bastante bem os dados experimentais de calor específicoda série. / [en] We propose a spin hamiltonian to describe the magnetic and thermal properties of a series of borocarbides. The effect of the crystal electric field is simulated by an effective magnetic field. By applying spin wave theory we have found the dispersion relation and the density of state for the magnos as well. In presence of an external magnetic field this density os state shifts rigidly in energy. From these results we have calculated the magnon contribuition to the molar specific heat without applied magnetic field. the effect of the field, however, is very small. We also have found the sublattice magnetization at T = 0K which is slightly reduced with respect to the ionic value given by the Hund's rule. Then we have calculated the sublattice magnetization as a function of T, both in presence and in absence of the magnetic field. With this model we succed in fitting fairly well the experimental data for the specific heat of the borocarbides series.

SILVA, Wanêssa Façanha. Ondas de spin em redes decoradas. 2014. 62 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Física) - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Física, Departamento de Física, Centro de Ciências, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, 2014. / Submitted by Edvander Pires (edvanderpires@gmail.com) on 2015-10-22T20:40:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_dis_wfsilva.pdf: 5621741 bytes, checksum: 74eb09424ba24b6a3b1acd4b7df5dee6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Edvander Pires(edvanderpires@gmail.com) on 2015-10-22T20:40:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_dis_wfsilva.pdf: 5621741 bytes, checksum: 74eb09424ba24b6a3b1acd4b7df5dee6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-10-22T20:40:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_dis_wfsilva.pdf: 5621741 bytes, checksum: 74eb09424ba24b6a3b1acd4b7df5dee6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Low-dimensional systems have attracted much attention lately due to systems such as graphene and carbon nanotubes. Such systems have great potential for technological applications. In particular the creation of electronic devices due to their specific electronic properties. In this sense , the study of other systems in low dimension becomes urgent. More specifically , the study of magnetic properties of materials at low dimensionality also brings great new features in the behavior of ferromagnetic systems . The behavior of spin waves in such systems may be important to the study of spintronic and the development of new devices and magnetic memories . Thus in this work we aim to study the behavior of ferromagnetic spin waves in two-dimensional systems . For two-dimensional systems we consider here two-dimensional networks decorated . The decorations are introduced to generate networks with more than one basic atom in the unit cell of the system to study the richness of the spectrum of spin waves due to these changes . At first deal with a superimposition of square networks where the displacement of these networks depends on the control parameters alpha and beta . We also use the superposition of a square on a hexagonal network. / Sistema de baixa dimensionalidade têm atraído uma grande atenção ultimamente devido a sistemas como grafeno e nanotubos de carbono. Tais sistemas têm grandes possibilidades de aplicações tecnológicas, em particular na criação de dispositivos eletrônicos, devido às suas propriedades eletrônicas específicas. Nesse sentido, o estudos de outros sistemas em baixa dimensão se torna urgente. Mais especificamente, o estudo de propriedades magnéticas de materiais de materiais em baixa dimensionalidade também trás grandes novidades no comportamento de sistemas ferromagnéticos. O comportamento de ondas de spin em tais sistemas pode ser para o estudo da spintrônica e o desenvolvimento de novos aparelhos e memórias magnéticas. Dessa forma temos como objetivo nesse trabalho estudar o comportamento de ondas de spin em sistemas bidimensionais ferromagnéticos. Por sistemas bidimensionais consideramos aqui redes bidimensionais decoradas. As decorações são introduzidas para gerar redes com mais de um átomo na base da célula unitária da rede para estudarmos a riqueza do espectro das ondas de spin devido a essas modificações. A princípio tratamos com uma superposição de redes quadradas onde o deslocamento dessas redes depende dos parâmetros de controle α e β. Também usamos a superposição de um rede quadrada sobre um hexagonal.

We investigate the quantum dynamics of the spins on different Heisenberg antiferromagnetic spin lattice systems. Firstly, we applied the coupled-cluster method to the spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic XXZ model on a square lattice by employing an approximation which contains two-body long-range correlations and high-order four-body local correlations. Improvement is found for the ground-state energy, sublattice magnetization, and the critical anisotropy when comparing with the approximation including the two-body correlations alone. We also obtain the full excitation spectrum which is in good agreement with the quantum Monte Carlo results and the high-order spin-wave theory. Secondly, we study the longitudinal excitations of quantum antiferromagnets on a triangular lattice by a recently proposed microscopic many-body approach based on magnon-density waves. We calculate the full longitudinal excitation spectra of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model for a general spin quantum number in the isotropic limit. Similar to the square lattice model, we find that, at the center of the first hexagonal Brillouin zone Γ(q=0) and at the magnetic ordering wavevectors ±[Q= (4π/3,0)], the excitation spectra become gapless in the thermodynamic limit, due to the slow, logarithmic divergence of the structure factor. However, these longitudinal modes on two-dimensional models may be considered as quasi-gapped, as any finite-size effect or small anisotropy will induce a large energy gap, when compared with the counterpart of the transverse spin-wave excitations. We have also investigated the excited states of the quasi-one-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets on hexagonal lattices, including the longitudinal modes based on the magnon-density waves. A model Hamiltonian with a uniaxial single-ion anisotropy is first studied by a spin-wave theory based on the one-boson method; the ground state thus obtained is employed for the study of the longitudinal modes. The full energy spectra of both the transverse modes (i.e., magnons) and the longitudinal modes are obtained as functions of the nearest-neighbor coupling and the anisotropy constants. We have found two longitudinal modes due to the non-collinear nature of the triangular antiferromagnetic order, similar to that of the phenomenological field theory approach by Affleck. The excitation energy gaps due to the anisotropy and the energy gaps of the longitudinal modes without anisotropy are then investigated. We then compares our results for the longitudinal energy gaps at the magnetic wavevectors with the experimental results for several antiferromagnetic compounds with both integer and non-integer spin quantum numbers, and we find good agreements after the higher-order contributions are included in our calculations.