Surface-acoustic-wave-driven spin pumping in Y3Fe5O12/Pt hybrid structure

A spin current generated from a surface acoustic wave (SAW) was observed in an Y3Fe5O12 (YIG)/Pt hybrid structure. At the YIG/Pt interface, a SAW generated in the YIG layer was found to pump a spin current into the Pt layer, which was detected through the inverse spin-Hall effect in the Pt. The YIG/Pt lateral structure combined with a piezoelectric wedge transducer enables the systematic investigation of the spin-voltage distribution due to the SAW in the YIG. Since the observed phenomenon has high affinity with SAW-based electronics, it will pave the way for constructing spintronic SAW devices. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3662032]