Excitation and detection of propagating spin waves at the single magnon level

Understand

Ferro- and ferrimagnets play host to small-signal, microwave-frequency magnetic excitations called spin waves, the quanta of which are known as magnons.

• Over the last decade, the field of spin-wave dynamics has contributed much to our understanding of fundamental magnetism.
• To date, experiments have focussed overwhelmingly on the study of room-temperature systems within classical limits.
• Here we demonstrate, for the first time, the excitation and detection of propagating spin waves at the single magnon level.