Acousto-Plasmo-Magnonics: Coupling Spin Waves with Hybridized Phonon-Plasmon Waves in a 2D Artificial Magnonic Crystal Deposited on a Plasmonic Material

Coupling between spin waves (SWs) and other waves in nanostructured media has emerged as an important topic of research because of the rich physics and the potential for disruptive technologies. Herein, a new phenomenon is reported in this family involving coupling between SWs and hybridized phonon-plasmon waves in a 2D periodic array of magnetostrictive nanomagnets deposited on a silicon substrate with an intervening thin film of aluminium that acts as a source of surface plasmons. Hybridized phonon-plasmon waves naturally form in this composite material when exposed to ultrashort laser pulses and they non-linearly couple with SWs to produce a new breed of waves – acousto-plasmo-spin waves that can exhibit a “frequency comb” spanning more than one octave. This phenomenon, that we call acousto-plasmo-magnonics resulting from tripartite coupling of magnons, phonons and plasmons, is studied with time-resolved magneto-optical-Kerr-effect microscopy. The findings also reveal the presence of parametric amplification in this system; energy is transferred from the hybridized phonon-plasmon modes to the acousto-plasmo-spin wave modes to amplify the latter. This opens a path to design novel active metamaterials with tailored and enhanced response. It may enable high-efficiency magneto-mechanical-plasmonic frequency mixing in the GHz−THz frequency regime and provide a unique avenue to study non-linear coupling, parametric amplification, and frequency comb physics.