Spin wave instability in single crystal Zn-Y hexagonal ferrite at 8.93 GHz

Resonance saturation (RS), subsidiary absorption (SA), and parallel pump (PP) spin wave instability threshold measurements have been made on single crystal easy plane disks of Mn substituted Zn-Y type hexagonal ferrite materials at 8.93 GHz and room temperature. For each configuration, "butterfly curves" of the spin wave instability threshold microwave field amplitude h(crit) as a function of the static field applied in the disk plane were obtained. The previous theory for these instability processes was also extended to include planar magnetocrystalline anisotropy and a wave vector k dependent spin wave linewidth, DeltaH(k). The RS butterfly curve had a characteristic "V" shape with a rounded minimum at the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) field. The nominal DeltaH(k) needed to fit the data at the ferromagnetic resonance field was 7 Oe, but the butterfly curve shape indicated a k-dependent DeltaH(k). The butterfly curves for the PP configuration were flat at low field and then diverged rapidly at the cutoff field for first order instability processes, H-cut. The SA butterfly curves were also flat over the field interval for first order processes, but then decreased as the field was increased above H-cut. This decrease is attributed to the onset of second order processes due to the proximity of the FMR and additional magnetostatic mode peaks as one moves to and then above H-cut. The flat portions of the PP and SA butterfly curves could be fitted with a single k-independent DeltaH(k) value of 18 Oe. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.