Coherent ac spin current transmission across an antiferromagnetic CoO insulator

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 mis-match 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.