Negative-energy spin waves in antiferromagnets for spin-current amplification and analogue gravity

Abstract

Magnonic black holes - analogue event horizons for the spin-wave collective excitations of ordered magnets - can be used for fundamental research, for example, for investigating Hawking radiation, but also for technological applications of spin waves. Here we show how to engineer a horizon for spin waves in antiferromagnets, which have the attractive feature of fast magnetization dynamics and linear dispersion relation. We propose a setup with spatially varying exchange interaction with spin-transfer torque to implement the horizon and a second setup for the amplification of spin waves consisting of an antiferromagnet subject to a spatially varying external magnetic field that is driven by spin orbit torque. We compute the values of parameters needed to implement the horizon and to have amplification of spin waves. We develop the corresponding Klein-Gordon equation and quantify the amplification. Our paper paves the way for investigation of Hawking radiation of spin waves and for antiferromagnet-based spin-wave amplifiers.