Kepaptsoglou, D., Castellanos-Reyes, J.Á., Kerrigan, A. et al. (9 more authors) (2025) Magnon spectroscopy in the electron microscope. Nature, 644. pp. 83-88. ISSN: 0028-0836
Abstract
The miniaturization of transistors is approaching its limits owing to challenges in heat management and information transfer speed1. To overcome these obstacles, emerging technologies such as spintronics2 are being developed, which make use of the electron’s spin as well as its charge. Local phenomena at interfaces or structural defects will greatly influence the efficiency of spin-based devices, making the ability to study spin-wave propagation at the nanoscale and atomic scale a key challenge3,4. The development of high-spatial-resolution tools to investigate spin waves, also called magnons, at relevant length scales is thus essential to understand how their properties are affected by local features. Here we detect bulk THz magnons at the nanoscale using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). By using high-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy with hybrid-pixel electron detectors, we overcome the challenges posed by weak signals to map THz magnon excitations in a thin NiO nanocrystal. Advanced inelastic electron scattering simulations corroborate our findings. These results open new avenues for detecting magnons and exploring their dispersions and their modifications arising from nanoscale structural or chemical defects. This marks a milestone in magnonics and presents exciting opportunities for the development of spintronic devices.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 Springer Nature Limited. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemical & Process Engineering (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 06 Aug 2025 14:52 |
Last Modified: | 06 Aug 2025 14:52 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Nature |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41586-025-09318-y |
Related URLs: | |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:230057 |