Reciprocal Damon-Eshbach-type spin wave excitation in a magnonic crystal due to tunable magnetic symmetry

We report spin-wave (SW) propagation in a one-dimensional magnonic crystal (MC) explored by all electrical spectroscopy. The MC consists of a periodic array of 255 nm wide permalloy nanowires with a small edge-to-edge separation of 45 nm. Provoking antiparallel alignment of the magnetization of neighboring nanowires, we unexpectedly find reciprocal excitation of Damon-Eshbach type SWs. The characteristics are in contrast to ferromagnetic thin films and controlled via, both, the external magnetic field and magnetic states. The observed reciprocal excitation is a metamaterial property for SWs and attributed to the peculiar magnetic symmetry of the artificially tailored magnetic material. The findings offer great perspectives for nanoscale SW interference devices. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4773522]