Published May 23, 2023 | v1
Journal Article Open

Spin wavepackets in the Kagome ferromagnet Fe₃Sn: Propagation and precursors

Abstract

The propagation of spin waves in magnetically ordered systems has emerged as a potential means to shuttle quantum information over large distances. Conventionally, the arrival time of a spin wavepacket at a distance, d , is assumed to be determined by its group velocity, v₉. Here, we report time-resolved optical measurements of wavepacket propagation in the Kagome ferromagnet Fe₃Sn₂ that demonstrate the arrival of spin information at times significantly less than d/v₉. We show that this spin wave "precursor" originates from the interaction of light with the unusual spectrum of magnetostatic modes in Fe₃Sn₂. Related effects may have far-reaching consequences toward realizing long-range, ultrafast spin wave transport in both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic systems.

Copyright and License

© 2023 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).

Funding

C.L., K.W., J.E.M., and J.O. acknowledge support from the Quantum Materials program under the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, of the US Department of Energy, Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. C.L. and J.O. acknowledge partial support from the Spin Physics program under the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, of the US Department of Energy, Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515. Y.S. and J.O. acknowledge support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems Initiative through grant GBMF4537 to J.O. at UC Berkeley. Y.-M.L acknowledges support from NSF under grant number DMR-2011876. This work was funded, in part, by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation EPiQS Initiative, through grants GBMF3848 and GBMF9070 to J.G.C. (material synthesis) and NSF grant DMR-2104964 (material analysis). L.Y. acknowledges support by the Tsinghua Education Foundation and STC Center for Integrated Quantum Materials, NSF grant number DMR-1231319.

Contributions

C.L., Y.S., and J.O. designed research; C.L., Y.S., L.Y., Y.-M.L., J.M., and J.G.C. performed research; C.L., Y.S., S.R., K.W., J.M., and J.O. analyzed data; and C.L., J.M., and J.O. wrote the paper.

Data Availability

All study data are included in the article and/or SI Appendix.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interest.

Attached Files

pnas.2220589120.pdf - Published article

pnas.2220589120.sapp.pdf - Supporting information

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Additional details

Created:
September 1, 2023
Modified:
September 1, 2023