Thermal gating of magnon exchange in magnetic multilayers with antiferromagnetic spacers

Abstract

We observe a strong thermally-controlled magnon-mediated interlayer coupling of two ferromagnetic layers via an antiferromagnetic spacer in spin-valve type trilayers. The effect manifests itself as a field-induced coherent switching of the two ferromagnets, which can be controlled by varying temperature and the spacer thickness. We explain the observed behavior as due to a strong hybridization of the ferro- and antiferro-magnetic magnon modes in the trilayer at temperatures just below the Néel temperature of the antiferromagnetic spacer.

4 pages, 4 figures