Nonlinear magnetization dynamics driven by strong terahertz fields

Abstract

We present a comprehensive experimental and numerical study of magnetization dynamics triggered in a thin metallic film by single-cycle terahertz pulses of $\sim 20$ MV/m electric field amplitude and $\sim 1$ ps duration. The experimental dynamics is probed using the femtosecond magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE), and it is reproduced numerically using macrospin simulations. The magnetization dynamics can be decomposed in three distinct processes: a coherent precession of the magnetization around the terahertz magnetic field, an ultrafast demagnetization that suddenly changes the anisotropy of the film, and a uniform precession around the equilibrium effective field that is relaxed on the nanosecond time scale, consistent with a Gilbert damping process. Macrospin simulations quantitatively reproduce the observed dynamics, and allow us to predict that novel nonlinear magnetization dynamics regimes can be attained with existing table-top terahertz sources.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures

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• All-optical non-linear chiral ultrafast magnetization dynamics driven by circularly polarized magnetic fields
• Near- and mid-infrared excitation of ultrafast demagnetization in a cobalt multilayer system
• Micromagnetic study of inertial spin waves in ferromagnetic nanodots
• Terahertz metamaterials for light-driven magnetism
• Properties and challenges of hot-phonon physics in metals: MgB${}_2$ and other compounds