Magnonics – putting a new spin on microwaves
Event details
| Date | 17.03.2017 |
| Hour | 17:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Dirk Grundler, Institute of Materials and Institute of Microengineering, STI, EPFL |
| Location | |
| Category | Inaugural lectures - Honorary Lecture |
Magnetic materials played an essential role in the increasing needs in nonvolatile data storage during the recent decades. Still, the emergence of smart and handheld devices has led to new storage concepts that have replaced the existing magnetic technology. They offer faster data processing, low power consumption and avoidance of mechanical parts. Recent discoveries such as spin-transfer torque, gigahertz nanooscillators, and magnonic grating couplers have stimulated a renewed technological interest in magnetic materials. In addition, nanoscale spin whirls, so-called magnetic skyrmions were experimentally verified in chiral magnets in 2009 and fostered further research efforts in the field of spin-based electronics.
In our laboratory we investigate magnetic bulk materials, thin films and nanostructures that contain specific spin structures and magnetic domains. The spin structures are tailored either through confinement effects by exploiting state-of-the-art nanotechnologies or via chiral magnets that host spin helices and skyrmions. We study their dynamic properties and address particularly wave-like spin excitations. Using integrated microwave antennas we directly couple electromagnetic waves to the spin waves (magnons). Their frequencies range from a few 100 MHz to several 10 GHz and hence cover the regime of microwaves that is of key relevance for modern information technologies (wifi, internet of things, cell phones).
In the talk we discuss nanoengineered magnets and so-called magnonic crystals that serve as microwave-to-magnon transducers. We demonstrate that on-chip wavelengths are shrinked by five orders of magnitude compared to the free-space electromagnetic wave. Thereby wavelengths similar to soft x-ray radiation can be achieved that allow for microwave components operating at the nanoscale. We show that the magnetic microwave devices are reprogrammable via different magnetic states, enabling reconfigurable electronics. Nanomaterials exploiting the spin degree of freedom promise microwave circuitry that is thus nanoscale and multifunctional by combining e.g. wave-based logic with nonvolatile storage.
Program:
-Introduction by Prof. Harm-Anton Klok, Director of the Materials Institute
-Inaugural Lecture of Dirk Grundler: "Magnonics – putting a new spin on microwaves"
Registration required: http://go.epfl.ch/grundler
Bio: Dirk Grundler is an associate professor at the Institute of Materials since 2015. Current research interests focus on magnetic nanostructures and materials to be exploited in spintronics, magnonics and spin caloritronics. He studied physics at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and entered the Philips Research Laboratories, Hamburg, Germany, in 1990 for his Diploma and PhD theses working on superconducting sensors for biomagnetism and medical applications. In 1995 Dirk Grundler joined the Microstructure Research Center at the Institute for Applied Physics of University of Hamburg as a postdoctoral researcher investigating magnetic properties of low-dimensional electron systems and semiconductor spintronics. He received the habilitation in experimental physics at University of Hamburg in 2001. From 2005 to 2015 he was professor at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Germany, holding the chair of “Physics of functional multilayers”.
In our laboratory we investigate magnetic bulk materials, thin films and nanostructures that contain specific spin structures and magnetic domains. The spin structures are tailored either through confinement effects by exploiting state-of-the-art nanotechnologies or via chiral magnets that host spin helices and skyrmions. We study their dynamic properties and address particularly wave-like spin excitations. Using integrated microwave antennas we directly couple electromagnetic waves to the spin waves (magnons). Their frequencies range from a few 100 MHz to several 10 GHz and hence cover the regime of microwaves that is of key relevance for modern information technologies (wifi, internet of things, cell phones).
In the talk we discuss nanoengineered magnets and so-called magnonic crystals that serve as microwave-to-magnon transducers. We demonstrate that on-chip wavelengths are shrinked by five orders of magnitude compared to the free-space electromagnetic wave. Thereby wavelengths similar to soft x-ray radiation can be achieved that allow for microwave components operating at the nanoscale. We show that the magnetic microwave devices are reprogrammable via different magnetic states, enabling reconfigurable electronics. Nanomaterials exploiting the spin degree of freedom promise microwave circuitry that is thus nanoscale and multifunctional by combining e.g. wave-based logic with nonvolatile storage.
Program:
-Introduction by Prof. Harm-Anton Klok, Director of the Materials Institute
-Inaugural Lecture of Dirk Grundler: "Magnonics – putting a new spin on microwaves"
Registration required: http://go.epfl.ch/grundler
Bio: Dirk Grundler is an associate professor at the Institute of Materials since 2015. Current research interests focus on magnetic nanostructures and materials to be exploited in spintronics, magnonics and spin caloritronics. He studied physics at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and entered the Philips Research Laboratories, Hamburg, Germany, in 1990 for his Diploma and PhD theses working on superconducting sensors for biomagnetism and medical applications. In 1995 Dirk Grundler joined the Microstructure Research Center at the Institute for Applied Physics of University of Hamburg as a postdoctoral researcher investigating magnetic properties of low-dimensional electron systems and semiconductor spintronics. He received the habilitation in experimental physics at University of Hamburg in 2001. From 2005 to 2015 he was professor at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Germany, holding the chair of “Physics of functional multilayers”.
Links
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Sylvie Deschamps