Nonreciprocal resonant surface acoustic wave absorption in Y$_3$Fe$_5$O$_{12}$

Overview & Synopsis

Ferrimagnet insulator yttrium iron garnet (Y$_3$Fe$_5$O$_{12}$ , YIG) attracts much interest in magnonics and microwave applications due to its relatively low magnetic damping and long magnon relaxation time. The magnetoelastic interaction between YIG magnetization and surface acoustic waves (SAWs) has been the basis in the development of acoustic-surface-wave isolators. However, the investigation of SAW-driven magnetic resonance in YIG is limited by the low compatibility of YIG and SAW devices. In this work, we demonstrate nonreciprocal resonant SAW absorption in an on-chip YIG-SAW device integrated by the focused-ion-beam technique. We observed two distinct SAW absorption signals attributed to the perpendicular standing spin waves (PSSW). Furthermore, the large observed nonreciprocity is compared to theoretical predictions incorporating the influence of asymmetric surface conditions on PSSW mode profiles and nonreciprocal magnon-SAW coupling. The strongly nonreciprocal SAW attenuation in YIG offers a promising opportunity for highly efficient rf signal processing technologies.