Ultrafast Magnonics

Magnons are the fundamental excitations of magnetic solids.

In technology they can be used for the energy-efficient transport of information and promise to replace electrical currents conventionally used in spintronics.

So far magnonics, the computing with magnons, has mainly focused on long-wavelength, low frequency excitations as they are commonly easier to generate and detect.

The present project aims at moving magnonics to small-wavevector magnons with teraherz frequencies promising much higher propagation speeds and smaller device dimensions. Generation and detection will be done using the latest advances in x-ray free electron lasers.

The project brings together experimentalist and theorists to provide a fundamental understanding how short-wavelength magnons can be generated using light in ferro- and antiferromagnetic materials, how materials properties can be optimized to achieve low magnon damping and finally how magnon spin currents interact with magnetic imperfections, domain walls and spin textures, that will ultimately facilitate detection in future devices.