Eur. Phys. J. B (2015) 88: 51
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2015-50438-6

Regular Article

Mechanical rotation of nanomagnet through interaction with an electromagnetic wave

¹ Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, 23 Prospekt Gagarina, 603950 Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
² Institute for Physics of Microstructures, Russian Academy of Sciences, 603950 Nizhny Novgorod, GSP – 105, Russia

^a e-mail: vera@ipm.sci-nnov.ru

Received: 30 June 2014
Received in final form: 16 September 2014
Published online: 18 February 2015

Abstract

We report a theoretical study on the effect of mechanical rotation of nanomagnet about a fixed axis due to its interaction with an electromagnetic wave with a frequency approaching that of ferromagnetic resonance. A stationary mode of rotation is investigated. We show that the rotation speed magnitude is proportional to the squared amplitude of the wave’s magnetic field, being maximum for a circularly polarized wave when the rotation direction changes for the opposite following a likewise change in the direction of polarization. The role of the magnetic anisotropy of nanomagnet is discussed. The effect is numerically estimated for molecular nanomagnet Fe₈.