Microwave magnonic micro-oscillator based on a nm-thick YIG film

Abstract

A numerical model describing a magnonic active ring oscillator (MARO) based on a microscopic spin-wave delay line is proposed. The model considers excitation, propagation, and reception of the magnetostatic surface waves in a yttrium iron garnet (YIG) magnetic film with a thickness in the nanometer range. The waves are excited and received with a microscopic coplanar antenna. We employed the model to analyze the influence of the YIG-film thickness and the distance between the antennas on the MARO performance characteristics. We showed that an increase in the delay time inserted by the delay line reduces the phase noise of the MARO and increases the auto-oscillation threshold. In addition, we found a relation between the auto-oscillation threshold, the thickness of the YIG film, and the distance between the antennas. The relation helps design miniature MAROs and suggests a way to reduce the phase noise of the device. The model predicts a phase noise level of −115 dBc/Hz at a 10 kHz offset from an oscillation frequency in the vicinity of 5 GHz for the MARO based on a 100 nm-thick YIG film and 56 μm of distance between the coplanar nano-antennas of the YIG-film based delay line. We believe that this is a clear way forward to microminiaturize the time-delay feedback microwave auto-oscillators. A further reduction in the phase noise down to −125 dBc/Hz at a 10 kHz offset is found in a model of cascaded connection of several microscopic spin-wave delay lines.