Study of the spin excitations in antidot lattices with line defects

The propagation of spin waves in antidot lattices with line defects has been studied by both microfocused Brillouin light scattering and micromagnetic simulations. The samples under investigation are NiFe square antidot lattices with circular holes of 250 nm of diameter, periodicity of 700 nm and thickness of 60 nm. Line defects have been introduced in the antidot lattices by removing one row (column) of holes every three rows (columns). Microfocused BLS has been used in order to map out the intensity profile of the main eigenmodes which are excited by a microwave current injected into a coplanar waveguide deposited on top of the sample surface. The comparison between micromagnetic simulations and ?-BLS measurements shows a good agreement not only for the measured frequency but also for the spatial profiles of the modes with the highest intensity in BLS spectra. These eigenmodes extend along the channels between dots rows and their frequency is different in presence of row- or column-defects because of the modification of the internal field felt by the precessing spins. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.