Optical characterization of thermal-stress induced by spin waves in thin-film ferrimagnetic structures

It is shown that intense spin-dipole waves (SDWs) excited in thin yttrium iron garnet (YIG) films induce an in-plane thermal stress ( σ ) of 1–2 MPa in a YIG/GGG structure (where GGG is gadolinium gallium garnet). In YIG/GGG with normal magnetization, σ shifts its ferromagnetic resonance frequency by ≈1 MHz, which is comparable to the linewidth of the absorption curve of YIG/GGG resonators. The effect was characterized by an optical technique that detects σ in the GGG substrate. It was also demonstrated that this effect can be used for the optical-microwave spectroscopy of spin waves in thin ferromagnetic films, by using thermal mapping of SDWs in the substrate. We have shown that this opens up the possibility of determining the contribution of the two-particle magneto-elastic interaction to the microwave heating of the sample.