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Non-linear radial spinwave modes in thin magnetic disks

We present an experimental investigation of radial spin-wave modes in magnetic nano-disks with a vortex ground state. The spin-wave amplitude was measured using a frequency-resolved magneto optical network analyzer, allowing for high-resolution resonance curves to be recorded. It was found that with increasing excitation amplitude up to about 10 mT, the lowest-order mode behaves strongly non-linearly as the mode frequency redshifts and the resonance peak strongly deforms. This behavior was quantitatively reproduced by micromagnetic simulations. At higher excitation the spinwaves are transformed into a soliton by self-focusing, and collapse onto the vortex core, dispersing the energy in short-wavelength spinwaves. Additionally, this process can lead to switching of the vortex polarization through the injection of a Bloch point.