Zero-Field Propagation Of Spin Waves In Waveguides Prepared By Focused Ion Beam Direct Writing

Metastable face-centered-cubic Fe78Ni22 thin films are excellent candidates for focused ion beam direct writing of magnonic structures due to their favorable magnetic properties after ion-beam-induced transformation. The focused ion beam transforms the originally nonmagnetic fcc phase into the ferromagnetic bcc phase with additional control over the direction of uniaxial magnetic in-plane anisotropy and saturation magnetization. Local magnetic anisotropy direction control eliminates the need for external magnetic fields, paving the way towards complex magnonic circuits with waveguides pointing in different directions. In the present study, we show that the magnetocrystalline anisotropy in transformed areas is strong enough to stabilize the magnetization in the direction perpendicular to the long axis of narrow waveguides. Therefore, it is possible to propagate spin waves in these waveguides in the favorable Damon-Eshbach geometry without the presence of any external magnetic field. Phase-resolved microfocused Brillouin light scattering yields the dispersion relation of these waveguides in zero as well as in nonzero external magnetic fields.