Microwave excitation of spin wave beams in thin ferromagnetic films

Abstract: We present an approach enabling generation of narrow spin wave beams in thin homogeneous ferromagnetic films. The main idea is to match the wave vector of the spin wave with that corresponding to the spectral maximum of the exciting microwave magnetic field only locally, in the region of space from which the beam should be launched. We show that this can be achieved with the aid of a properly designed coplanar waveguide transducer generating a nonuniform microwave magnetic field. The resulting two-dimensional spin wave beams obtained in micromagnetic simulations propagate over distances of several micrometers. The proposed approach requires neither inhomogeneity of the ferromagnetic film nor nonuniformity of the biasing magnetic field, and it can be generalized to yield multiple spin wave beams of different width at the same frequency. Other possible excitation scenarios and applications of spin wave beam magnonics are also discussed.