First-principles and model simulation of all-optical spin reversal

Abstract

All-optical spin switching is a potential trailblazer for information storage and communication at an unprecedented fast rate and free of magnetic fields. However, the current wisdom is largely based on semiempirical models of effective magnetic fields and heat pulses, so it is difficult to provide high-speed design protocols for actual devices. Here, we carry out a massively parallel first-principles and model calculation for thirteen spin systems and magnetic layers, free of any effective field, to establish a simpler and alternative paradigm of laser-induced ultrafast spin reversal and to point out a path to a full-integrated photospintronic device. It is the interplay of the optical selection rule and sublattice spin orderings that underlines seemingly irreconcilable helicity-dependent/independent switchings. Using realistic experimental parameters, we predict that strong ferrimagnets, in particular, Laves phase C15 rare-earth alloys, meet the telecommunication energy requirement of 10 fJ, thus allowing a cost-effective subpicosecond laser to switch spin in the GHz region.

23 pages, 6 figures and one table

References in corpus (6)

• All-optical control of ferromagnetic thin films and nanostructures
• Highly efficient and tuneable spin-to-charge conversion through Rashba coupling at oxide interfaces
• Picosecond all-optical switching of magnetic tunnel junctions
• All-optical spin switching: A new frontier in femtomagnetism -- A short review and a simple theory
• Magnetic switching dynamics in a ferrimagnetic two sub-lattice model including ultrafast exchange scattering
• Switching ferromagnetic spins by an ultrafast laser pulse: Emergence of giant optical spin-orbit torque

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Perspective on Metallic Antiferromagnets
• Spin-orbit torque-mediated spin-wave excitation as an alternative paradigm for femtomagnetism
• First-principles insights into all-optical spin switching in the half-metallic Heusler ferrimagnet Mn${}_2$RuGa
• Manifestation of intra-atomic 5d6s-4f exchange coupling in photoexcited gadolinium
• Demagnetizing fields in all-optical switching
• Timescales and contribution of heating and helicity effect in helicity-dependent all-optical switching