Laser induced magnetization switching in films with perpendicular anisotropy: a comparison between measurements and a multi-macrospin model

Abstract

Thermally-assisted ultra-fast magnetization reversal in a DC magnetic field for magnetic multilayer thin films with perpendicular anisotropy has been investigated in the time domain using femtosecond laser heating. The experiment is set-up as an optically pumped stroboscopic Time Resolved Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect magnetometer. It is observed that a modest laser fluence of about 0.3 mJ/square-cm induces switching of the magnetization in an applied field much less than the DC coercivity (0.8 T) on the sub-nanosecond time-scale. This switching was thermally-assisted by the energy from the femtosecond pump-pulse. The experimental results are compared with a model based on the Landau Lifschitz Bloch equation. The comparison supports a description of the reversal process as an ultra-fast demagnetization and partial recovery followed by slower thermally activated switching due to the spin system remaining at an elevated temperature after the heating pulse.

8 pages, 10 figures, to be submitted to PRB

References in corpus (3)

• Dynamic approach for micromagnetics close to the Curie temperature
• Thermal fluctuations and longitudinal relaxation of single-domain magnetic particles at elevated temperatures
• Ultra-fast spin dynamics: the effect of colored noise

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