Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
The exceptional magnetic, optical and phononic properties of Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) make it unique for spin-wave based and photonic applications. Yet, nanostructuring crystalline YIG and manipulating its magnetism in a non-destructive way is an outstanding challenge, and so far mostly limited to two-dimensional capabilities. Here, we show that irradiation of single-crystal YIG films with a focused UV laser drives a stable, giant enhancement of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, preserving the crystalline quality. This modulation is highly confined at the nanoscale in both the lateral and vertical directions, and its extension within the volume can be finely tuned with a continuous depth-control. By harnessing these three-dimensional anisotropy profiles, we demonstrate a large tuning of the spin-wave band structure, volume spatial localization, and non-reciprocity, realizing proof-of-principle 3D magnonic crystals. This straightforward, single-step, laser nanofabrication of three-dimensional magnetic systems based on crystalline YIG thin films opens the way to design novel functions in magnonic and magneto-optic devices. There has been considerable interest in using magnons for information processing. Such ‘magnonic’ devices will require magnetic patterning analogous to the lithographic patterns of integrated circuits. Here, Levati, Vitali and coauthors present one possible approach to this, demonstrating laser induced changes in the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Yttrium Iron Garnet.
Levati et al. (Thu,) studied this question.