Spin waves in ferromagnetic thin films

Abstract: A spin wave is the disturbance of intrinsic spin order in magnetic materials. In this paper, a spin wave in the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation is obtained based on the assumption that the spin wave maintains its shape while it propagates at a constant velocity. Our main findings include: (1) in the absence of Gilbert damping, the spin wave propagates at a constant velocity with the increment proportional to the strength of the magnetic field; (2) in the absence of magnetic field, at a given time the spin wave converges exponentially fast to its initial profile as the damping parameter goes to zero and in the long time the relaxation dynamics of the spin wave converges exponentially fast to the easy-axis direction with the exponent proportional to the damping parameter; (3) in the presence of both Gilbert damping and magnetic field, the spin wave converges to the easy-axis direction exponentially fast at a small timescale while propagates at a constant velocity beyond that. These provides a comprehensive understanding of spin waves in ferromagnetic materials.