Multipole magnons in topological skyrmion lattices resolved by cryogenic Brillouin light scattering microscopy

Non-collinear magnetic skyrmion lattices provide novel magnonic functionalities due to their topological magnon bands and asymmetric dispersion relations. Magnon excitations with intermediate wavelengths comparable to inter-skyrmion distances are particularly interesting but largely unexplored so far due to experimental challenges. Here, we report the detection of such magnons with wavevectors q ≃ 48 rad/um in the metastable skyrmion lattice phase of the bulk chiral magnet Cu_2OSeO_3 using micro-focused Brillouin light scattering microscopy. Thanks to its high sensitivity and broad bandwidth we resolved various excitation modes of a single skyrmion lattice domain over a wide magnetic field regime. Besides the known modes with dipole character, quantitative comparison of frequencies and spectral weights to theoretical predictions enabled the identification of a quadrupole mode and observation of signatures which we attribute to a decupole and a sextupole mode. Our combined experimental and theoretical work highlights that skyrmionic phases allow for the design of magnonic devices exploiting topological magnon bands.