Topological magnon-photon interaction for cavity magnonics

• Published in: Communications physics Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 194 - 7
• Main Authors: Lee, Jongjun M., Hwang, Myung-Joong, Lee, Hyun-Woo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 31.07.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/1019/482; 639/301/119/2792/4128; Dipole interactions; Electric dipoles; Electric fields; Ferromagnetism; Hybrid systems; Magnetic dipoles; Magnetic fields; Magnons; Photons; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Topological insulators
• ISSN: 2399-3650; 2399-3650
• DOI: 10.1038/s42005-023-01316-8

The study of cavity magnonics and topological insulators has made significant advances over the past decade, however the possibility of combining the two fields is still unexplored. Here, we explore such connection by investigating hybrid cavity systems that incorporate both a ferromagnet and a topological insulator. We find that electrons in the topological surface state efficiently mediate the effective electric dipole coupling between the spin of the ferromagnet and the electric field of the cavity, in contrast with the conventional cavity magnonics theory based on magnetic dipole coupling. We refer to this coupling as topological magnon-photon interaction, estimating it one order of magnitude stronger than the conventional magnon-photon coupling, and showing that its sign can be manipulated. We discuss the potential of our proposed device to allow for scaling down and controlling the cavity system using electronics. Our results provide solid ground for exploring the functionalities enabled by merging cavity magnonics with topological insulators. Reaching the strong coupling regime in cavity magnonics is impaired by quantum decoherence effects introduced by a large size of magnet required. By mediating it via a topological insulator, the authors propose an indirect coupling mechanism to enhance the magnon-photon interaction strength.