We report spin wave propagation experiments in thin yttrium iron garnet (YIG) films. Using time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy we extract the mode structure of the spin waves. For quasi-single-mode excitation, the spin wave decay can be fitted with a damped harmonic oscillator function providing us with information about the attenuation length. We measure values of about 2.7 and 3.6 μm for the spin wave decay length of 38-and 49-nm-thick YIG samples, respectively. Micromagnetic simulations are performed to compare experimental and simulated modes. The data are in very good agreement with these simulations.

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We review the development trends in microwave magnetism and superconductivity over the last five decades. The review contains the key results of recent studies related to the promising areas of modern magnetism and applied physics – spintronics, magnonics, magnon caloritronics, physics of magnonic crystals, spin-wave logic, and the development of novel micro- and nano-scale magnetic devices. The main achievements in these fields of physics are summarized and generalized.

We use the resonant and non-resonant microwave absorption to probe the dynamic and static magnetic parameters of weakly coupled spin valves. The sample series include spin valve structures with varying thickness of the non-magnetic metallic spacer and reference samples comprised only a free or fixed magnetic layer. Beside the common resonance absorption peaks, the observed microwave spectra present step-like features with hysteretic behavior. The latter effect is a direct manifestation of the interlayer coupling between the ferromagnetic layers and provides two static magnetic parameters, the switching field and coercivity of the fixed layer. The analysis of the microwave absorption spectra under in-plane rotation of the applied magnetic field at different spacer thicknesses permits a deeper insight in the magnetic interactions in this system as compared to the conventional magnetometry. We combine the standard Smit-Beljers formalism for the angular dependence of the resonance fields with a Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert dynamics extended to describe in detail the intensity of microwave absorption in the spin valves. In this way, we extract a set of parameters for each layer including the effective magnetization and anisotropy, exchange bias and interlayer coupling, as well as Gilbert damping. The model reproduces well the experimental findings, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and the estimated parameters are in a reasonable agreement with the values known from the literature. The proposed theoretical treatment can be adopted for other multilayered dynamic systems as, e.g., spin-torque oscillators.