Spin Wave Diffraction and Perfect Imaging of a Grating

Abstract

We study the diffraction of Damon-Eshbach-type spin waves incident on a one-dimensional grating realized by micro slits in a thin permalloy film. By means of time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy we observe unique diffraction patterns behind the grating which exhibit replications of the spin-wave field at the slits. We show that these spin-wave images, with details finer than the wavelength of the incident Damon-Eshbach spin wavelength, arise from the strongly anisotropic spin wave dispersion.