Zero-field Optic Mode Beyond 20 GHz in a Synthetic Antiferromagnet

Antiferromagnets have considerable potential as spintronic materials. Their dynamic properties include resonant modes at frequencies higher than can be observed in conventional ferromagnetic materials. An alternative to single-phase antiferromagnets are synthetic antiferromagnets (SAFs), engineered structures of exchange-coupled ferromagnet/nonmagnet/ferromagnet trilayers. SAFs have significant advantages due to the wide-ranging tunability of their magnetic properties and inherent compatibility with current device technologies, such as those used for Spin-transfer-torque magnetic random-access memory production. Here we report the dynamic properties of fully compensated SAFs using broadband ferromagnetic resonance and demonstrate resonant optic modes in addition to the conventional acoustic (Kittel) mode. These optic modes possess the highest zero-field frequencies observed in SAFs to date with resonances of 18 and 21 GHz at the first and second peaks in antiferromagnetic Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) coupling, respectively. In contrast to previous SAF reports that focus only on the first RKKY antiferromagnetic coupling peak, we show that a higher optic mode frequency is obtained for the second antiferromagnetic coupling peak. We ascribe this to the smoother interfaces associated with a thicker nonmagnetic layer. This demonstrates the importance of interface quality to achieving high-frequency optic mode dynamics entering the subterahertz range.