Femtosecond Photomagnetic Switching of Spins in Ferrimagnetic Garnet Films

Hansteen, Fredrik; Kimel, A.V.; Kirilyuk, Andrei; Rasing, T.H.M.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.95.047402

Cited by 216 publications

(227 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…This is particularly interesting in view of the already mentioned results in Ref. 11, where pump polarization is found to trigger a precessional motion of the magnetization vector in a garnet film. On a longer ͑hundreds of picoseconds͒ time scale, a precessional motion could be observed in our measurements; however, no dependence of the precession on the pump polarization was found.…”

Section: Influence Of Photon Angular Momentum On Ultrafast Demagnetizmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…An example of this can be found in Ref. 11. In our polar configuration, however, the initial displacement would be parallel to the film plane and thereby not observable during the first picosecond.…”

Section: Influence Of Photon Angular Momentum On Ultrafast Demagnetizmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Recently, it has been found, for instance, that nonthermal processes are dominating in garnets. 11 In those experiments, circularly polarized pump pulses generate a coherent magnetic field ͑inverse Faraday effect͒ that applies a torque on the magnetization vector. On the other hand, it has been known for some years that pump polarization does not have a major influence in the spin response to laser excitation in transition metals.…”

Section: Influence Of Photon Angular Momentum On Ultrafast Demagnetizmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influence of photon angular momentum on ultrafast demagnetization in nickel

et al. 2007

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The role of photon angular momentum in laser-induced demagnetization of Nickel thin films is investigated by means of pump-probe time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect in the polar geometry. The recorded data display a strong dependency on pump helicity during pump-probe temporal overlap, which is shown to be of non-magnetic origin. By accurately fitting the demagnetization curves we also show that demagnetization time τM and electron-phonon equilibration time τE are not affected by pump-helicity. Thereby our results do not support direct transfer of angular momentum between photons and spins to be relevant for the demagnetization process. This suggests, in agreement with the microscopic model that we recently presented, that the source of angular momentum could be phonons or impurities rather than laser photons as required in the microscopic model proposed by Zhang and Hübner.

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Section: Influence Of Photon Angular Momentum On Ultrafast Demagnetizmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Influence Of Photon Angular Momentum On Ultrafast Demagnetizmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Influence Of Photon Angular Momentum On Ultrafast Demagnetizmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influence of photon angular momentum on ultrafast demagnetization in nickel

et al. 2007

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“…However, the natural decay of the spin waves, which can be assigned to magnon-magnon or magnon-phonon interactions, 25,28 usually takes place on the timescale of tens to hundreds of picoseconds. 29,30 Potential applications in ultrafast spin-based information processing and spintronics require active manipulation of the amplitude or the phase, or both, of transient magnetization on a much faster picosecond timescale. Such active ultrafast manipulation over an otherwise long-lasting spin excitation can be achieved using coherent control.…”

Section: Thz Excitation and Coherent Control Of Spin Resonances Vmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single-pulse terahertz coherent control of spin resonance in the canted antiferromagnet YFeO3, mediated by dielectric anisotropy

Jin

Mics

et al. 2013

Phys. Rev. B

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We report on the coherent control of terahertz (THz) spin waves in a canted antiferromagnet yttrium orthoferrite, YFeO3, associated with a quasiferromagnetic (quasi-FM) spin resonance at a frequency of 0.3 THz, using a single-incident THz pulse. The spin resonance is excited impulsively by the magnetic field component of the THz pulse. The intrinsic dielectric anisotropy of YFeO3 in the THz range allows for coherent control of both the amplitude and the phase of the excited spin wave. The coherent control is based on simultaneous generation of two interfering phase-shifted spin waves whose amplitudes and relative phase, dictated by the dielectric anisotropy of the YFeO3 crystal, can be controlled by varying the polarization of the incident THz pulse with respect to the crystal axes. The spatially anisotropic decay of the THz-excited FM spin resonance in YFeO3, leading to an increasingly linear polarization of the THz oscillation at the spin resonance frequency, suggests a key role of magnon-phonon coupling in spin-wave energy dissipation. 2013 American Physical Society. We report on the coherent control of terahertz (THz) spin waves in a canted antiferromagnet yttrium orthoferrite, YFeO 3 , associated with a quasiferromagnetic (quasi-FM) spin resonance at a frequency of 0.3 THz, using a single-incident THz pulse. The spin resonance is excited impulsively by the magnetic field component of the THz pulse. The intrinsic dielectric anisotropy of YFeO 3 in the THz range allows for coherent control of both the amplitude and the phase of the excited spin wave. The coherent control is based on simultaneous generation of two interfering phase-shifted spin waves whose amplitudes and relative phase, dictated by the dielectric anisotropy of the YFeO 3 crystal, can be controlled by varying the polarization of the incident THz pulse with respect to the crystal axes. The spatially anisotropic decay of the THz-excited FM spin resonance in YFeO 3 , leading to an increasingly linear polarization of the THz oscillation at the spin resonance frequency, suggests a key role of magnon-phonon coupling in spin-wave energy dissipation.

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“…47,48 For these reasons they seem to be ideal materials for the study of ultrafast spin dynamics in general and the search for nonthermal mechanisms for the optical control of magnetization in particular. [49][50][51] Another interesting group of dielectrics, the rare-earth orthoferrites RFeO 3 , are also a well-studied family of magnetic materials with a rich array of magnetic properties. 52 The orthoferrites are particularly interesting because of the presence of an antisymmetric exchange interaction which involves the vector ͑cross͒ product of neighboring spins as opposed to the usual scalar product.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrafast all-optical control of the magnetization in magnetic dielectrics

Kirilyuk

Kimel

Hansteen

et al. 2006

Low Temperature Physics

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The purpose of this review is to summarize the recent progress on laser-induced magnetization dynamics in magnetic dielectrics. Due to the slow phonon-magnon interaction in these materials, direct thermal effects of the laser excitation can only be seen on the time scale of almost a nanosecond and thus are clearly distinguished from the ultrafast nonthermal effects. However, laser pulses are shown to indirectly modify the magnetic anisotropy in rare-earth orthoferrites via the crystal field, and to bring about spin reorientation within a few picoseconds. More interesting, however, are the direct nonthermal effects of light on spin systems. We demonstrate coherent optical control of the magnetization in ferrimagnetic garnet films on a femtosecond time scale through a combination of two different ultrafast and nonthermal photomagnetic effects and by employing multiple pump pulses. Linearly polarized laser pulses are shown to create a long-lived modification of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy via optically induced electron transfer between nonequivalent ion sites. In addition, circularly polarized pulses are shown to act as strong transient magnetic field pulses originating from the nonabsorptive inverse Faraday effect. An alloptical scheme of excitation and detection of different antiferromagnetic resonance modes with frequencies of up to 500 GHz will be discussed as well. The reported effects open new and exciting possibilities for ultrafast manipulation of spins by light and provide new insight into the physics of magnetism on ultrafast time scales.

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Femtosecond Photomagnetic Switching of Spins in Ferrimagnetic Garnet Films

Cited by 216 publications

References 20 publications

Influence of photon angular momentum on ultrafast demagnetization in nickel

Influence of photon angular momentum on ultrafast demagnetization in nickel

Single-pulse terahertz coherent control of spin resonance in the canted antiferromagnet YFeO3, mediated by dielectric anisotropy

Ultrafast all-optical control of the magnetization in magnetic dielectrics

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