Propagation and scattering of spin waves in curved magnonic waveguides

We report a continuous medium theory of dispersion and scattering of spin waves propagating in thin nanowire magnonic waveguides with curved regions. Assuming that the static magnetization is aligned along the waveguide, the curvature leads to a geometrical effective magnetic field term that is proportional to the square of the ratio of the exchange length to the radius of curvature of the waveguide. The term is small enough to favor the use of bended nanowire waveguides in planar magnonic data architectures. However, a stronger (multiple) winding (e. g., within helical structures) could enable design of magnonic waveguides with desired properties. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4757994]