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| With conventional CMOS technology data is carried by flows of electrons that generate heat which is responsible for the device's power consumption. An alternative to this principle is the employment of other particles or quasi-particles as information carriers which are subject to dissipation to a much lesser degree than electrons. I will show that eigen excitations of magnetic media - magnons can be used for this role.
In my talk, after an introduction on spin waves and their quanta magnons, I will concentrate on the key information processing elements realized by means of magnons: data buffering element, time reverser of complex signals, and magnon transistor. These proof of concept devices are made out of an insulator in order to exclude any motion of free electrons and are based on a magnonic crystal (also known as a magnetic meta-material): a man-made medium with properties derived from an engineered structuring. Data buffering has been realized in a magnonic crystal by the excitation of standing quasi-normal modes. Data read-out has been implemented by means of phase-sensitive parametric amplification of the stored mode. The second device, a time reverser, is based on a dynamic magnonic crystal: a crystal with properties that can be varied using external controls on a very fast time scale. We have shown that a wave packet, while being reflected by the dynamic crystal, reverses its time profile. The time-reversal mechanism is purely linear and is applicable to waves of any nature. Finally, I will present the most recent breakthrough in the field - the realization of a magnon transistor. The device uses control of magnons by magnons, which is realized through an enhancement of nonlinear magnon interactions by the magnonic crystal. We have shown that the magnon transistor allows for the design of all-magnon logic gates as well as for enhancement of magnonic signals. |
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