Dynamic magnonic crystals based on vanadium dioxide gratings

The properties of spin-wave quanta, referred to as magnons, make them a promising signal carrier for the transmission and processing of information in magnetic materials. In this field, called magnonics, dynamic magnonic crystals attract special attention for applications such as complex real-time spectral transformations, due to on-demand controllability of transmission gaps. Here, we report on the experimental realization of the dynamic control of spin-wave band structures in artificial crystals using the metal-insulator transition in the vanadium dioxide (VO2) grating. The obtained results are confirmed by a theoretical approach predicting a dramatic variation of the reflection coefficient from the VO2 stripes upon the phase transition. The proposed structure combines the excellent versatility, fast switching speed, low power consumption, and external control it affords.