New optical technique provides more efficient probe of nanomagnet dynamics
Data storage devices and other emerging technologies use magnetic elements smaller than 100 nanometers, but studying their magnetization dynamics can be a challenge
June 01, 2020 | UCSC | Tim Stephens
Optical analysis of nanomagnets is achieved by directing a laser pulse at gratings designed to generate surface acoustic waves and focus the vibrational energy of the waves on individual nanomagnets. (Cover image, Applied Physics Letters, May 26, 2020)
The performance of magnetic storage and memory devices depends on the magnetization dynamics of nanometer-scale magnetic elements called nanomagnets. Researchers at UC Santa Cruz have developed a new optical technique that enables efficient analysis of single nanomagnets as small as 75 nanometers in diameter, enabling them to extract critical information for optimizing device performance.
“It’s a much more efficient method to get critical device parameters for magnetic memory and other applications,” said electrical engineer Holger Schmidt, the Kapany Professor of Optoelectronics at UC Santa Cruz.
Schmidt and first author Wei-Gang Yang, a postdoctoral researcher in his lab, reported their results in a paper published in Applied Physics Letters as the cover article of the May 26 issue.