Epitaxial Magnon Junctions with Y3Fe5O12/Gd3Ga5O12/Pt-nanoparticles/Y3Fe5O12

Abstract

The excitation, propagation, manipulation, and detection of magnons lie at the core of magnonics. Among various device architectures, high-quality magnon junctions with a ferromagnetic insulator (FI)/antiferromagnetic insulator (AFI)/ferromagnetic insulator (FI) configuration are predicted to exhibit a near-100% magnon junction ratio (MJR), making them promising candidates for high-performance non-volatile memory applications. Yttrium iron garnet (Y3Fe5O12, YIG) is widely employed as the FI material in such structures for its exceptionally low magnetic damping. However, in previously reported magnon junctions, the epitaxial relationship between the two YIG layers is often disrupted by lattice-mismatched AFI spacers. Although this leads to distinct coercivities, it simultaneously degrades the crystalline quality of the top YIG layer, thereby limiting the magnontransmission efficiency. Here, an epitaxial magnon junction is demonstrated incorporating a hybrid Gd3Ga5O12 (GGG)/Pt-nanoparticles spacer that maintains coherent epitaxy while enabling an antiparallel magnetic configuration. Compared with nickel oxide-based magnon junctions, the coercivity-tuned top YIG layer in our structure exhibits superior crystalline quality and much lower magnetic damping. A clear magnon junction effect is observed with a 43% MJR achieved. The interlayer coupling between the two ferrimagnetic insulators is found to enhance the MJR. These results offer valuable insights for the development of advanced magnon-based spintronic devices.