Three-dimensional Character of the Magnetization Dynamics in Magnetic Vortex Structures: Hybridization of Flexure Gyromodes with Spin Waves

Three-dimensional linear spin-wave eigenmodes of a vortex-state Permalloy disk are studied by micromagnetic simulations based on the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. The simulations confirm that the increase of the disk thickness leads to the appearance of additional exchange-dominated so-called gyrotropic flexure modes having nodes along the disk thickness, and eigenfrequencies that decrease when the thickness is increased. We observe the formation of a gap in the mode spectrum caused by the hybridization of the first flexure mode with one of the azimuthal spin-wave modes of the disk. A qualitative change of the transverse profile of this azimuthal mode is found, demonstrating that in a thick vortex-state disk the influence of the "transverse" and the "azimuthal" coordinates cannot be separated. The three-dimensional character of the eigenmodes is essential to explain the recently observed asymmetries in an experimentally obtained phase diagram of vortex-core reversal in relatively thick Permalloy disks.