Published papers

An array of NiFe nanodots has been prepared on a Cu/CoFeAl film. Since a thermal spin current is expected to be excited owing to a large spin-dependent Seebeck coefficient for the CoFeAl, we investigate the magnetization dynamics of the NiFe dots under the temperature gradient along the vertical direction. By using vector network analyzer measurements, we have demonstrated that the temperature gradient produces modulations of the frequency of ferromagnetic resonance and the linewidth of the resonance spectra. The observed parabolic dependences are well explained by the damping-like and field-like components of spin transfer torque.

We have investigated the influence of the spin-dependent scattering on the heat transports in NiFe/Cu/NiFe and Co/Cu/Co tri-layered nanowires. The thermal conductivity and its spin dependence for the tri-layered wires have been evaluated by using an integrated nano-sized thermo couple. We find that the thermal spin-valve effect is always approximately 8 times larger than the electrical spin-valve effect, namely giant magnetoresistance effect. The numerical simulation with the experimental results enable us to estimate the thermal conductivity for the tri-layered wire and its spin dependence. Surprisingly, the spin dependence of the thermal conductivity for the Co/Cu/Co wire is as high as 8%, which is much larger than the electrical one. This indicates a high potential application of the thermal spin-valve effect.

In this study, we fabricated quasi-Antiferromagnetic (AFM) layers and investigated the magnetic dynamics of quasi-AFM in both an experiment and simulation. Quasi-AFM has multi domains with alternating antiparallel magnetization, which can be realized by using 90° magnetic coupling between two ferromagnetic layers. In magnetic resonance measurement, a frequency and damping constant of CoFe-based quasi-AFM are higher than those of conventional CoFe. Likewise, in micromagnetic simulation, we obtained the spin torque oscillation in Quasi-AFM with high frequency. This suggests the possibility of a novel material with the high frequency wave generator without a stray field, like antiferromagnetic materials.

We demonstrate the phase shift of the Rayleigh-type surface acoustic wave (RSAW) in a ferromagnetic Ni81Fe19 film based on the gyromagnetic Einstein-de Haas (EdH) torque that can be attributed to the back action of spin-wave excitation. The EdH torque modulates the transverse velocity of the bulk acoustic wave that causes the bipolar phase shift of RSAW. When compared with a magnetoelastic torque, the phase shift can be more prominently enhanced by increasing the frequency. The gyromagnetic torque in the RSAW paves the way for controlling spin-mechatronics devices without magnetoelastic torque which is specific to a certain material.

We demonstrate a dual-comb vibrometer where the pulses of one frequency-comb are split into pulse pairs. We introduce a delay between two pulses of each pulse pair in front of the sample, and after the corresponding two consecutive reflections at the vibrating sample surface, the initially introduced delay is canceled by a modified Sagnac geometry. The remaining phase difference between the two pulses corresponds to the change in the axial position of the surface during the two consecutive reflections. The Sagnac geometry reduces the effect of phase jitter since both pulses propagate through nearly the same optical path (in opposite directions), and spurious signals are eliminated by time gating. We determine the amplitude of surface vibration on a surface-acoustic-wave device with an axial precision of 4 pm. This technique enables the highly accurate determination of extremely small displacements.

We experimentally demonstrate spin-torque generation using a compositional gradient at the interface between titanium and tungsten thin films. The width of the compositional gradient interface (CGI) between films is varied from 1.4 to 2.0 nm via sputtering. Spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance is observed in the ferromagnetic Ni95Cu5 alloy fabricated on a Ti/W bilayer with the CGI. The positive spin torque increases with decreasing CGI width, but a negative spin torque is superimposed owing to the negative spin Hall effect in bulk tungsten. A structural undulation in the CGI eliminates this variation in positive spin torque. The CGI width dependence of the spin torque is associated with the generation of spin and/or orbital angular momentum flow at the CGI. Spin-torque generation using a CGI expands the range of material choice for magnetic nonvolatile memory applications.

We report a large modulation of spin pumping using temperature-induced magnetic phase transitions in c-axis oriented single crystalline dysprosium (Dy). From the temperature variation of the magnetic susceptibility, transitions from paramagnetic (PM) to ferromagnetic (FM) phases via antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase are clearly observed in the Dy. Unlike polycrystalline Dy, the spin pumping of both PM- and AFM-Dy are strongly suppressed owing to the increased non-dissipative backflow of spin current by the long-range spin transport, although two orders of magnitude difference exist between FM- and AFM-phases.

Spin wave excitation and propagation properties in a permalloy were investigated using a vector network analyzer for the magnetostatic surface wave (MSSW) and magnetostatic backward volume wave (MSBVW) configurations. In the MSSW configuration, the excitation and transmission spectra show many peaks. They originate at the distance of antenna lines of the coplanar waveguide, and the waveguide design is important for selecting the excitation and transmission wave vectors of the spin wave. The attenuation length of the MSSW was estimated to be 7.1 μm, and the group velocity of the MSSW with a wave number of 0.26 μm-1 was estimated to be about 8.6 μm/ns for an external magnetic field of 20 mT. In the MSBVW configuration, however, the excitation spin wave spectrum shows a single peak, since many quantized peaks overlap. A transmission signal with a single peak was also detected, but this could be an artifact such as an induced current. © 2013 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.

The dynamical spin injection in a ferromagnetic/paramagnetic bilayer with various paramagnetic layers has been examined by using the inverse spin Hall effect. We adapt a CoFeB film as a ferromagnetic layer, which has a large spin dependent Seebeck coefficient. The contribution of the spin pumping was evaluated from the line-width change of the ferromagnetic resonant spectra while that of the thermal spin injection was evaluated from the heat conductivity for the paramagnetic layer. We find that the spin Hall voltage does not show the systematic change with respect to the line-width change. However, the normalized spin Hall voltage is found to increase with the heat conductivity for the paramagnetic layer. These results suggest that the thermal spin injection is a major contribution for the dynamical spin injection in CoFeB/paramagnetic bilayer systems.