Observation of orbital angular momentum currents and orbital waves in 3d thin films

The electrical manipulation of magnetization dynamics has attracted many researchers in view of the potential for creating energy-efficient electronic devices. The orbital degree of freedom in magnetism has often been disregarded due to orbital quenching but recent research shows that the orbital contribution can be sizable even surpassing the spin contribution. Our goal is now to study magnetization waves in nickel and cobalt induced by surface acoustic waves and focus on the orbital contributions. The material choice is to compare nickel, which is expected to have a large orbital signal, to cobalt, which we expect negligible orbital signal. An additional goal is thus the study of orbital accumulation on NM transition metals such as Ti, Cr or V. The oscillating electric field or the oscillating strain accompanying the SAW may generate oscillating orbital accumulation in the form of an orbital wave. For this purpose, a single layer of NM metals of Ti and V will be grown on a piezoelectric.