- Li, Q;
- Yang, M;
- Klewe, C;
- Shafer, P;
- N’Diaye, AT;
- Hou, D;
- Wang, TY;
- Gao, N;
- Saitoh, E;
- Hwang, C;
- Hicken, RJ;
- Li, J;
- Arenholz, E;
- Qiu, ZQ
The recent discovery of spin current transmission through antiferromagnetic insulating materials opens up vast opportunities for fundamental physics and spintronics applications. The question currently surrounding this topic is: whether and how could THz antiferromagnetic magnons mediate a GHz spin current? This mismatch of frequencies becomes particularly critical for the case of coherent ac spin current, raising the fundamental question of whether a GHz ac spin current can ever keep its coherence inside an antiferromagnetic insulator and so drive the spin precession of another ferromagnet layer coherently? Utilizing element- and time-resolved x-ray pump-probe measurements on Py/Ag/CoO/Ag/Fe75Co25/MgO(001) heterostructures, here we demonstrate that a coherent GHz ac spin current pumped by the Py ferromagnetic resonance can transmit coherently across an antiferromagnetic CoO insulating layer to drive a coherent spin precession of the Fe75Co25 layer. Further measurement results favor thermal magnons rather than evanescent spin waves as the mediator of the coherent ac spin current in CoO.