The microscopic mechanisms responsible for the ultrafast loss of magnetic order triggered in ferromagnetic metals by optical excitation are still under debate. One of the ongoing controversies is about the thermal origin of ultrafast demagnetization. Although different theoretical investigations support a main driving mechanism of thermal origin, alternative descriptions in terms of coherent interaction between the laser and the spin system or superdiffusive spin transport have been proposed. Another important matter of debate originates from the experimental observation of two time scales in the demagnetization dynamics of the 4f ferromagnet gadolinium. Here, it is still unclear whether it is necessary to invoke two distinct microscopic mechanisms to explain such behavior, or if one single mechanism is indeed sufficient. To uncover the physics behind these two unsolved issues, we explore the dependence of ultrafast-demagnetization dynamics in nickel through a survey of different laser intensities and ambient temperatures. Measurements in a large range of these external parameters are performed by means of the time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect and display a pronounced change in the maximum loss of magnetization and in the temporal profile of the demagnetization traces. The most striking observation is that the same material system (nickel) can show a transition from a one-step (one time scale) to a two-step (two time scales) demagnetization, occurring on increasing the ambient temperature. We find that the fluence and the temperature dependence of ultrafast demagnetization-including the transition from one-step to two-step dynamics-are reproduced theoretically assuming only a single scattering mechanism coupling the spin system to the temperature of the electronic system. This finding means that the origin of ultrafast demagnetization is thermal and that only a single microscopic channel is sufficient to describe magnetization dynamics in the 3d ferromagnets on all time scales.

Spin currents have an important role in many proposed spintronic devices, as they govern the switching process of magnetic bits in random access memories or drive domain wall motion in magnetic shift registers. The generation of these spin currents has to be fast and energy efficient for realization of these envisioned devices. Recently it has been shown that femtosecond pulsed-laser excitation of thin magnetic films creates intense and ultrafast spin currents. Here we utilize this method to change the orientation of the magnetization in a magnetic bilayer by spin-transfer torque on sub-picosecond timescales. By analysing the dynamics of the magnetic bilayer after laser excitation, the rich physics governing ultrafast spin-transfer torque are elucidated opening up new pathways to ultrafast magnetization reversal, but also providing a new method to quantify optically induced spin currents generated on femtosecond timescales.

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Domain wall motion in materials exhibiting perpendicular magnetic anisotropy has been the subject of intensive research because of its large potential for future spintronic devices. Recently, it has been shown that perpendicular anisotropy of thin films can be influenced by electric fields. Voltage-controlled magnetic switching has already been realized, which is envisioned to lead to low-power logic and memory devices. Here we demonstrate a radically new application of this effect, namely control of domain wall motion by electric fields. We show that an applied voltage perpendicular to a Co or CoB wire can significantly increase or decrease domain wall velocities. Velocity modification over an order of magnitude is demonstrated (from 0.4 to 4 µm s − 1 ), providing a first step towards electrical control of domain wall devices. This opens up possibilities of real-time and local control of domain wall motion by electric fields at extremely low power cost.

The stochastic Liouville equation is applied to the field of organic magnetoresistance to perform detailed microscopic calculations on the different proposed models. By adapting this equation, the influence of a magnetic field on the current in bipolaron, electron-hole pair, and triplet models is calculated. The simplicity and wide applicability of the stochastic Liouville equation makes it a powerful tool for interpreting experimental results on magnetoresistance measurements in organic semiconductors. New insights are gained on the influence of hopping rates and disorder on the magnetoresistance.