Nature magazine highlights a researcher’s publication from the USM Department of Physics

An innovative study carried out by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf research center in collaboration with Dr. Rodolfo Gallardo yielded important results that could revolutionize the world of magnetic nanostructures and their applications.

USM Communications.- The leading British popular science magazine, Nature Physics, highlighted the research work carried out by the German center Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) in collaboration with Dr. Rodolfo, a researcher from the Physics Department of the Technical University Federico Santa María. Gallant.

The digital medium published the article formulated after a year and a half of investigative work, which sought to couple terahertz radiation to nanostructured magnetic materials. Said coupling presented a challenge that for years had been impossible due to the different wavelengths between magnetic waves (spin waves) and terahertz radiation, but now, by finding a solution, would open endless possibilities in the field of magnonica and its applications.

Given the relevance of the publication, Rodolfo Gallardo pointed out that “it is important on a personal level, since it highlights my career as a scientist, but it is also relevant for the prestige of the university”, explaining that publications in journals such as Nature Physics are , at present, “quite scarce at the national level” and that serve to “show the level of our scientific studies, not only at the national level, but also at the international level.”

In response to the impact of the finding, other media, such as the Techfragment and Phys.org websites, referred to the issue, underlining the “innovative” nature of the technique developed by the team of scientists headed by the HZDR and Dr. Gallardo. For this reason, the Physics Department researcher insisted that “this type of article contributes to the prestige of the university and highlights the quality of its professionals abroad.”

cutting edge physics

The work carried out under the title of Coupling of terahertz light with nanometer-wavelength magnon modes via spin–orbit torque (or as Gallardo himself translates it, Coupling of terahertz light with nanometer-wavelength magnons via spin-orbit torque) yielded important results in the area of ​​magnetic nanostructures, which would allow light to be linked with other magnetic materials through the excitation of its waves.

As Gallardo explains, the efficient coupling of light with magnons had been somewhat challenging due to the different wavelengths between the two physical phenomena. “It is very difficult to efficiently couple radiation or light with spin waves, even if both waves have the same frequency,” says the PhD in physics, who has collaborated with the HZDR since 2010 and with whom he has already published several scientific articles.

To solve the problem, “a new system consisting of a magnetic material coupled with two metal sheets a few nanometers thick was proposed, where the interaction between the metals and the magnetic material presents a strong spin-orbit coupling. Said coupling, of quantum origin, makes a kind of ‘link’ between the world of light waves and the world of spin waves”, he relates, explaining that by avoiding this impossibility “the possibility opens up that many of the Magnetic nanostructures that have been studied at low frequencies can be studied in a higher frequency range, where new dynamic properties can be observed”.

The researcher Rodolfo Gallardo was in charge of developing the theoretical explanation of the experiments formulated by the German center in its dependencies. In his own words, he had to “develop a theoretical model that explains in a simple way that what is measured experimentally is consistent with magnetic excitations oscillating at terahertz frequencies.”

Finally, the researcher commented that this type of scientific advance could facilitate the development of much more efficient data transmission technologies. It would be, as he stresses, a very significant advance put into practice and that “marks a before and after in the study of the dynamic properties of magnetic nanostructures, since a crucial step has been taken towards the creation of new components that operate at terahertz frequencies.