Acoustic ferromagnetic resonance and spin pumping induced by surface acoustic waves

Puebla, J.*; Xu, M.*; Rana, B.*; Yamamoto, Kei   ; Maekawa, Sadamichi*; Otani, Yoshichika*

Voltage induced magnetization dynamics of magnetic thin films is a valuable tool to study anisotropic fields, exchange couplings, magnetization damping and spin pumping mechanism. A particularly well established technique is the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) generated by the coupling of microwave photons and magneti- zation eigenmodes in the GHz range. Here we review the basic concepts of the so-called acoustic ferromagnetic resonance technique (a-FMR) induced by the coupling of surface acoustic waves (SAW) and magnetization of thin films. Interestingly, additional to the benefits of the microwave excited FMR technique, the coupling be- tween SAW and magnetization also offers fertile ground to study magnon-phonon and spin rotation couplings. We describe the in-plane magnetic field angle dependence of the a-FMR by measuring the absorption / trans- mission of SAW and the attenuation of SAW in the presence of rotational motion of the lattice, and show the consequent generation of spin current by acoustic spin pumping.