Real-time FMR lorentzian visualization through a novel synchronous VNA-FMR measurement apparatus

It is shown in this work that a synchronous measurement setup is able to conveniently and accurately retrieve ferromagnetic resonance's (FMR) main physical properties from a permalloy sample. The apparatus used comprises a vector network analyzer (VNA), coupled with external DC coils, driven by a controllable power supply. A permalloy thin film sample was subjected to a microwave signal through a grounded coplanar waveguide. A square wave signal generated by an Arduino microcontroller drives the coils to a triangular, 65.4 ms period magnetic field. This field’s half-cycle is synchronized to match a zero-span sampling time at the VNA. The system has the advantage of fast results, as the typical FMR lorentzian curve is completed in a few seconds and shown immediately on the VNA’s scattering parameter S21 trace graph. The system showed an improved signal-to-noise ratio of 51.7 at 10 GHz over 24.3 for the 100 nm thick permalloy- sample used in this work. A magnetic field resonance point, collected at 10 GHz, showed a five-fold improvement in the standard-error.