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Exploring weak turbulence of phonon and magnon beams in magnetoacoustic ultrathin films

Vladimir L. Safonov*, Derek A. Bas, Andrew Franson, Piyush J. Shah, Michael E. McConney, Michael Newburger, and Michael R. Page

  • *Contact author: vlsafonov@outlook.com
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Phys. Rev. Applied 24, 064058 – Published 22 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/trxt-p1dt

Abstract

This study presents a simple theoretical model describing narrow envelope surface acoustic waves (phonons) and spin waves (magnons) in an ultrathin ferromagnetic film. Based on the general principles of weak wave turbulence, the model considers interactions between beams of an ideal phonon gas and a weakly nonideal magnon gas, which represent magnetoacoustic oscillations in the system. Equations for the wave envelopes of phonons and magnons, along with their harmonics, are derived, incorporating nonlinear effects from three- and four-particle interactions. In the general nonresonant case, linear stationary envelope simulations are sufficient. These clarify the experimentally observed angular dependence of the transmitted acoustic signal with respect to the orientation of the magnetic field. The study highlights increased energy losses associated with enhanced magnetoacoustic coupling. Given the broad interdisciplinary interest in weak turbulence phenomena within condensed-matter physics and nonlinear wave dynamics, our model offers significant predictive capabilities and greatly simplifies calculations of quasiparticle beam interactions.

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Phys. Rev. Applied 24, 064058– Published 22 December, 2025
  • Received 1 August 2025
  • Revised 23 October 2025
  • Accepted 10 November 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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