SQUID-detected FMR: Resonance in single crystalline and polycrystalline yttrium iron garnet

Abstract

Here two new techniques for the detection of broadband (100 MHz–20 GHz) ferromagnetic resonance Here two new techniques for the detection of broadband (100 MHz–20 GHz) ferromagnetic resonance (FMR)/ferrimagnetic resonance in single and poly-crystalline materials, which rely on SQUID-based gradiometry detection of small changes in the magnetisation, are developed. In the first method, small changes in the along-the-applied-field projection of the coupled magnetic moment (Δmz) are detected as the material is driven into resonance. Absolute measurement of the longitudinal component of the magnetisation and the resonance induced lowering of this moment makes estimation of the precession cone angle accessible, which is typically difficult to extract using conventional cavity or stripline based detection methods. The second method invokes the change in Δmz with the resonance-induced thermal heating (dmzdT). Magnetisation dynamics in bulk Y3Fe5O12 are observed over a broad range of experimental temperatures (4 K–400 K) and fields (10–500 mT). The inhomogeneous microwave excitation allows for the observation of higher magnetostatic modes and the convenient tracking of very broad resonances. The two SQUID-detection techniques when combined with conventional broadband vector network analyser-FMR, low-frequency magnetic susceptibility, and DC magnetometry, all easily realised, essentially concurrently, using the same module, greatly expand the amount of static and dynamic information accessible.