Intrinsic and Extrinsic Damping in Polycrystalline Fe Thin Films

ORAL

Abstract

Advancing the understanding of magnetic relaxation is essential for energy-efficient spintronic memories, oscillators, etc. Here, we examine the intrinsic and extrinsic damping in two series of polycrystalline Fe thin films with distinct structural properties: (1) strongly textured, smooth Fe films grown on Cu and (2) weakly textured, rough Fe films grown on Ag.

Out-of-plane FMR measurements reveal that intrinsic Gilbert damping parameters for all Fe films thicker than 4 nm are in quantitative agreement with that for epitaxial Fe [1]. The remarkable invariance with microstructure strongly suggests that intrinsic Gilbert damping is a local property of nanoscale crystal grains with limited impact from film microstructure. By contrast, the in-plane FMR linewidths of the Fe films exhibit pronounced nonlinear frequency dependencies indicating the presence of strong two-magnon scattering. These in-plane FMR results cannot be reproduced quantitatively by a standard grain-to-grain two-magnon scattering model [2], even with different types of correlation functions. Our finding points to the need to further examine the fundamental impact of film microstructure on extrinsic damping.

[1] Khodadadi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 957201 (2020)

[2] Kalarickal et al., Phys. Rev. B 77, 054427 (2008)

Publication: S. Wu, D. Smith, P. Nakarmi, A. Rai, M. Clavel, M. Hudait, J. Zhao, F. Michel, C. Mewes, T. Mewes, S. Emori "Intrinsic and extrinsic damping in polycrystalline Fe thin films." Submitted to Phys. Rev. B, arXiv:2109.03684 (2021)

Presenters

  • Shuang Wu

    • Virginia Tech

Authors

  • Shuang Wu

    • Virginia Tech
  • David A Smith

    • Virginia Tech
  • Prabandha Nakarmi

    • University of Alabama
  • Anish Rai

    • University of Alabama
  • Michael Clavel

    • Virginia Tech
  • Mantu K Hudait

    • Virginia Tech
  • Jing Zhao

    • Virginia Tech
  • Frederick M Michel

    • Virginia Tech
  • Claudia K Mewes

    • University of Alabama
    • CNRS/Thales, France
  • Tim Mewes

    • University of Alabama
  • Satoru Emori

    • Virginia Tech