TY - JOUR
T1 - Generation of spin currents by surface plasmon resonance
AU - Uchida, K.
AU - Adachi, H.
AU - Kikuchi, D.
AU - Ito, S.
AU - Qiu, Z.
AU - Maekawa, S.
AU - Saitoh, E.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Y. Ohnuma, T. Kikkawa, S. Daimon, A. Kirihara, M. Ishida, T. Meyer, M. Agrawal, E. Papaioannou and B. Hillebrands for valuable discussions. This work was supported by PRESTO-JST ‘Phase Interfaces for Highly Efficient Energy Utilization’, CREST-JST ‘Creation of Nanosystems with Novel Functions through Process Integration’, Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A) (25707029), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (24244051), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas ‘Nano Spin Conversion Science’ (26103005) from MEXT, Japan, LC-IMR of Tohoku University, NEC Corporation, the Sumitomo Foundation, the Tanikawa Fund Promotion of Thermal Technology, the Casio Science Promotion Foundation and the Iwatani Naoji Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/1/8
Y1 - 2015/1/8
N2 - Surface plasmons, free-electron collective oscillations in metallic nanostructures, provide abundant routes to manipulate light-electron interactions that can localize light energy and alter electromagnetic field distributions at subwavelength scales. The research field of plasmonics thus integrates nano-photonics with electronics. In contrast, electronics is also entering a new era of spintronics, where spin currents play a central role in driving devices. However, plasmonics and spin-current physics have so far been developed independently. Here we report the generation of spin currents by surface plasmon resonance. Using Au nanoparticles embedded in Pt/BiY2Fe5O12 bilayer films, we show that, when the Au nanoparticles fulfill the surface-plasmon-resonance conditions, spin currents are generated across the Pt/BiY2Fe5O12 interface. This spin-current generation cannot be explained by conventional heating effects, requiring us to introduce nonequilibrium magnons excited by surface-plasmon-induced evanescent electromagnetic fields in BiY2Fe5O12. This plasmonic spin pumping integrates surface plasmons with spin-current physics, opening the door to plasmonic spintronics.
AB - Surface plasmons, free-electron collective oscillations in metallic nanostructures, provide abundant routes to manipulate light-electron interactions that can localize light energy and alter electromagnetic field distributions at subwavelength scales. The research field of plasmonics thus integrates nano-photonics with electronics. In contrast, electronics is also entering a new era of spintronics, where spin currents play a central role in driving devices. However, plasmonics and spin-current physics have so far been developed independently. Here we report the generation of spin currents by surface plasmon resonance. Using Au nanoparticles embedded in Pt/BiY2Fe5O12 bilayer films, we show that, when the Au nanoparticles fulfill the surface-plasmon-resonance conditions, spin currents are generated across the Pt/BiY2Fe5O12 interface. This spin-current generation cannot be explained by conventional heating effects, requiring us to introduce nonequilibrium magnons excited by surface-plasmon-induced evanescent electromagnetic fields in BiY2Fe5O12. This plasmonic spin pumping integrates surface plasmons with spin-current physics, opening the door to plasmonic spintronics.
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U2 - 10.1038/ncomms6910
DO - 10.1038/ncomms6910
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84961289857
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 6
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
M1 - 5910
ER -