Microwave magnetic dynamics in highly conducting magnetic nanostructures

We performed low-noise broadband microstrip ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements of the resonant modes of an array of metallic ferromagnetic nanostripes. In addition to a strong signal of the fundamental mode, we observed up to five weak-amplitude peaks in the field-resolved FMR traces, depending on the frequency. These higher-order absorption peaks have been theoretically identified as due to resonant excitation of odd and even standing spin waves across the direction of confinement in array plane (i.e., across the stripe width). The theory we developed suggests that the odd modes become excited in the spatially uniform microwave field of the FMR setup due to the large conductivity of metals. This promotes excitation of large-amplitude eddy currents in the sample by the incident microwave magnetic field and ultimately results in excitation of these modes. Following this theory, we found that the eddy current contribution is present only for patterned materials and when the microwave magnetic field is incident on one surface of sample surface, as it is in the case of a microstrip FMR. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.