Optical control of spin waves in hybrid magnonic-plasmonic structures

Magnonics, which harnesses the unique properties of spin waves, offers promising advancements in data processing due to its broad frequency range, nonlinear dynamics, and scalability for on-chip integration. Effective information encoding in magnonic systems requires precise spatial and temporal control of spin waves. Here, we demonstrate the rapid optical control of spin-wave transport in hybrid magnonic-plasmonic structures. By using thermoplasmonic heating in yttrium iron garnet films integrated with gold nanodisk arrays, we achieve a suppression of spin-wave signals by 20 dB using single laser pulses lasting just a few hundred nanoseconds. Our results reveal a strong correlation between plasmonic light absorption and spin-wave manipulation, as supported by micromagnetic simulations that emphasize the crucial role of magnonic refraction. This study establishes thermoplasmonics as a powerful tool for controlling spin-wave propagation, bridging the fields of magnonics and plasmonics, and paving the way for the development of multifunctional hybrid magnonic devices.