Control of magnonic spectra in cobalt nanohole arrays: the effects of density, symmetry and defects

Abstract

Magnetic nanohole arrays are important systems for propagation of magnetic excitations and are among the potential candidates for magnonic crystals. A thorough investigation of magnonic band structures and the effect of the geometry of the array on them are important. Here, we present a systematic micromagnetic simulation study of magnonic modes in cobalt nanohole (antidot) arrays. In particular, we investigate the effects of the areal density and symmetry of the array and defects introduced in the array. The magnonic modes are strongly dependent on the density and the symmetry of the array but are weakly dependent on the defects. We have further investigated the modes in a tailored array consisting of equally wide hexagonal arrays with varying density. The magnonic spectrum of the tailored array contains additional modes above the modes of the constituent arrays due to the appearance of irregular domain structures at the regions joining arrays of two different types. This opens up the possibility of tuning the magnonic bands in magnetic nanohole arrays by careful design of the structure of the array.