The existence of magnetostatic surface spin waves in ferromagnets, known as the Damon-Eshbach mode, was recently demonstrated to originate from the topology of the dipole-dipole interaction. In this work, we study the topological characteristics of magnons in easy-axis antiferromagnets with uniaxial anisotropy. The dipolar spin waves are found to be, driven by the dipole-dipole interaction, in a topological nodal-line semimetal phase, which hosts Damon-Eshbach-type surface modes due to the bulk-edge correspondence. The long-wavelength character of dipolar spin waves makes our proposal valid for any natural uniaxial easy-axis antiferromagnet and, thus, enriches the candidates of topological magnonic materials. In contrast to the nonreciprocal property in the ferromagnetic case, surface modes with opposite momentum coexist at each surface, but with different chiralities. Such chirality-momentum or spin-momentum locking, similar to that of electronic surface states in topological insulators, offers the opportunity to design novel chirality-based magnonic devices in antiferromagnets.

Nanomagnets are widely used to store information in non-volatile spintronic devices. Spin waves can transfer information with low-power consumption as their propagations are independent of charge transport. However, to dynamically couple two distant nanomagnets via spin waves remains a major challenge for magnonics. Here we experimentally demonstrate coherent coupling of two distant Co nanowires by fast propagating spin waves in an yttrium iron garnet thin film with sub-50 nm wavelengths. Magnons in two nanomagnets are unidirectionally phase-locked with phase shifts controlled by magnon spin torque and spin-wave propagation. The coupled system is finally formulated by an analytical theory in terms of an effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. Our results are attractive for analog neuromorphic computing that requires unidirectional information transmission. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

A magnon spin-orbit coupling, induced by the dipole-dipole interaction, is derived in monoclinic-stacked bilayer honeycomb spin lattice with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and antiferromagnetic interlayer coupling. Linear crossings are predicted in the magnon spectrum around the band minimum in Γ valley, as well as in the high-frequency range around the zone boundary. The linear crossings in K and K′ valleys, which connect the acoustic and optical bands, can be gapped when the intralayer dipole-dipole or Kitaev interactions exceed the interlayer dipole-dipole interaction, resulting in a phase transition from semimetal to insulator. Our results are useful for analyzing the magnon spin dynamics and transport properties in van der Waals antiferromagnets.

Magnon spintronics is a prosperous field that promises beyond-CMOS technology based on elementary excitations of the magnetic order that act as information carriers for future computational architectures. Unidirectional propagation of spin waves is key to the realization of magnonic logic devices. However, previous efforts to enhance the magnetostatic surface spin wave nonreciprocity did not realize (let alone control) purely unidirectional propagation. Here we experimentally demonstrate excitation of unidirectional exchange spin waves by a nanoscale magnetic grating consisting of Co nanowires fabricated on an ultrathin yttrium iron garnet film. We explain and model the nearly perfect unidirectional excitation by the chirality of the magneto-dipolar interactions between the Kittel mode of the nanowires and the exchange spin waves of the film. Reversal of the magnetic configurations of film and nanowire array from parallel to antiparallel changes the direction of the excited spin waves. Our results raise the prospect of a chiral magnonic logic without the need to involve fragile surface states.

We address the theory of magnon-phonon interactions and compute the corresponding quasiparticle and transport lifetimes in magnetic insulators, with a focus on yttrium iron garnet at intermediate temperatures from anisotropy- and exchange-mediated magnon-phonon interactions, the latter being derived from the volume dependence of the Curie temperature. We find in general weak effects of phonon scattering on magnon transport and the Gilbert damping of the macrospin Kittel mode. The magnon transport lifetime differs from the quasiparticle lifetime at shorter wavelengths.