The present work addresses in-depth magnetic films with magnonic surface patterning of variable size. Two different kinds of such structures referred to as surface-modulated magnonic crystals were investigated: Ion-irradiated magnonic crystals and structurally etched magnonic crystals. To achieve that, two different experimental approaches were pursued. On the one hand, the magnetic moment at the surface of lithographically patterned permalloy (Ni80Fe20) films was periodically reduced by means of ion irradiation. On the other hand, structural trenches were introduced at the surface of a pre-patterned thin film by sequential ion milling. The goal is the acquisition of a fundamental understanding of the behavior of spin-wave modes in the transition from a continuous magnetic thin film to a full magnonic crystal, i.e. separated periodic magnetic structures. In the framework of this thesis, the spin-wave eigen-modes of such magnonic crystals were mainly investigated spectroscopically by means of ferromagnetic resonance. Thereby, the “Two-magnon scattering perturbation theory” and the “plane-wave method” were employed as the theoretical methodologies to understand the complex dynamics of such systems. The first is a reliable method to calculate the dynamic response of surface-modulated magnonic crystals where the modulation is of a perturbation character, i.e. small compared to the film thickness. The latter is a quasi-analytical approach to calculate the dynamic eigen-modes of magnonic crystals consisting of different components with significantly varying properties. Moreover, numerical methods were employed to get further insight into the spin dynamics of these structures. In such systems, the spin-wave behavior follows the well-known dispersion relation of flat magnetic thin films as long as the surface-modulation is small compared to the film thickness. In this work, it was shown that this circumstance can be exploited for a parameter-free determination of the exchange constant A, which is not experimentally accessible for magnetic thin films in a straightforward manner. However, once the modulation height is of significant magnitude, the dynamics of surface-modulated magnonic crystals become substantially more complex. A straightforward understanding of such kind of system is hampered by the complex interplay of different effects. On the one hand, the internal demagnetizing field reveals an alternating character and depends itself on the modulation height and the field angle. On the other hand, the dynamic eigen-modes are hybridized, i.e., they reveal different characteristics in different regions of the magnonic crystal and, in addition, they couple to each other. Here, the approach is particularly favorable to investigate the spin dynamics of surface-modulated magnonic crystals by systematically altering the modulation height of the same sample. This is mainly due to two reasons. First, the two edge cases, namely the thin film and the full magnonic crystal, are already well understood and, second, other magnetic and structural parameters remain constant. With the help of the measurement results and the simulations, the quasi-analytical theory was validated. Subsequently, the mode profiles were calculated by theory and simulation in order to analyze the mode character in the transition from a thin film to a full magnonic crystal. Two kinds of dynamic eigen-modes were identified, namely hybridized modes and localized modes. For both types, simple formulae were derived describing their characteristic dynamic behavior. Besides, transition rules were found connecting the mode number n of film modes with the mode number m of modes in the full magnonic crystal. In order to correlate the symmetry and magnitude of the demagnetizing field with the spin-wave eigen-modes, the internal fields of a strongly surface-modulated magnonic crystal were reconstructed by electron holography measurements. By reemploying the measurement results for micromagnetic simulations, the dynamics of the whole system could be reproduced. This strategy allowed for a better understanding of the link between the demagnetizing field and the spin-wave mode characteristics. Based on these results, a simplified model for the analytical description of the inplane angular dependence was found. The acquired understanding of such systems led to the elaboration of specific applications, such as the spin-wave channelization. It should be noted that the coupling of uniform to non-uniform spin-wave phenomena, which is an intrinsic property of these structures, holds out the prospect of several applications in the future.

The present work addresses in-depth magnetic films with magnonic surface patterning of variable size. Two different kinds of such structures referred to as surface-modulated magnonic crystals were investigated: Ion-irradiated magnonic crystals and structurally etched magnonic crystals. To achieve that, two different experimental approaches were pursued. On the one hand, the magnetic moment at the surface of lithographically patterned permalloy (Ni80Fe20) films was periodically reduced by means of ion irradiation. On the other hand, structural trenches were introduced at the surface of a pre-patterned thin film by sequential ion milling. The goal is the acquisition of a fundamental understanding of the behavior of spin-wave modes in the transition from a continuous magnetic thin film to a full magnonic crystal, i.e. separated periodic magnetic structures. In the framework of this thesis, the spin-wave eigen-modes of such magnonic crystals were mainly investigated spectroscopically by means of ferromagnetic resonance. Thereby, the “Two-magnon scattering perturbation theory” and the “plane-wave method” were employed as the theoretical methodologies to understand the complex dynamics of such systems. The first is a reliable method to calculate the dynamic response of surface-modulated magnonic crystals where the modulation is of a perturbation character, i.e. small compared to the film thickness. The latter is a quasi-analytical approach to calculate the dynamic eigen-modes of magnonic crystals consisting of different components with significantly varying properties. Moreover, numerical methods were employed to get further insight into the spin dynamics of these structures. In such systems, the spin-wave behavior follows the well-known dispersion relation of flat magnetic thin films as long as the surface-modulation is small compared to the film thickness. In this work, it was shown that this circumstance can be exploited for a parameter-free determination of the exchange constant A, which is not experimentally accessible for magnetic thin films in a straightforward manner. However, once the modulation height is of significant magnitude, the dynamics of surface-modulated magnonic crystals become substantially more complex. A straightforward understanding of such kind of system is hampered by the complex interplay of different effects. On the one hand, the internal demagnetizing field reveals an alternating character and depends itself on the modulation height and the field angle. On the other hand, the dynamic eigen-modes are hybridized, i.e., they reveal different characteristics in different regions of the magnonic crystal and, in addition, they couple to each other. Here, the approach is particularly favorable to investigate the spin dynamics of surface-modulated magnonic crystals by systematically altering the modulation height of the same sample. This is mainly due to two reasons. First, the two edge cases, namely the thin film and the full magnonic crystal, are already well understood and, second, other magnetic and structural parameters remain constant. With the help of the measurement results and the simulations, the quasi-analytical theory was validated. Subsequently, the mode profiles were calculated by theory and simulation in order to analyze the mode character in the transition from a thin film to a full magnonic crystal. Two kinds of dynamic eigen-modes were identified, namely hybridized modes and localized modes. For both types, simple formulae were derived describing their characteristic dynamic behavior. Besides, transition rules were found connecting the mode number n of film modes with the mode number m of modes in the full magnonic crystal. In order to correlate the symmetry and magnitude of the demagnetizing field with the spin-wave eigen-modes, the internal fields of a strongly surface-modulated magnonic crystal were reconstructed by electron holography measurements. By reemploying the measurement results for micromagnetic simulations, the dynamics of the whole system could be reproduced. This strategy allowed for a better understanding of the link between the demagnetizing field and the spin-wave mode characteristics. Based on these results, a simplified model for the analytical description of the inplane angular dependence was found. The acquired understanding of such systems led to the elaboration of specific applications, such as the spin-wave channelization. It should be noted that the coupling of uniform to non-uniform spin-wave phenomena, which is an intrinsic property of these structures, holds out the prospect of several applications in the future.

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