Coherent spin-wave transport in an antiferromagnet

Abstract

Magnonics is a research field complementary to spintronics, in which the quanta of spin waves (magnons) replace electrons as information carriers, promising lower dissipation^1–3. The development of ultrafast, nanoscale magnonic logic circuits calls for new tools and materials to generate coherent spin waves with frequencies as high and wavelengths as short as possible^4,5. Antiferromagnets can host spin waves at terahertz frequencies and are therefore seen as a future platform for the fastest and least dissipative transfer of information^6–11. However, the generation of short-wavelength coherent propagating magnons in antiferromagnets has so far remained elusive. Here we report the efficient emission and detection of a nanometre-scale wavepacket of coherent propagating magnons in the antiferromagnetic oxide dysprosium orthoferrite using ultrashort pulses of light. The subwavelength confinement of the laser field due to large absorption creates a strongly non-uniform spin excitation profile, enabling the propagation of a broadband continuum of coherent terahertz spin waves. The wavepacket contains magnons with a shortest detected wavelength of 125 nm that propagate into the material with supersonic velocities of more than 13 km s^–1. This source of coherent short-wavelength spin carriers opens up new prospects for terahertz antiferromagnetic magnonics and coherence-mediated logic devices at terahertz frequencies.