Blueprint for deterministic all-optical switching of magnetization

Abstract

We resolve a significant controversy about how to understand and engineer single-shot all-optical switching of magnetization in ferrimagnets using femto- or picosecond-long heat pulses. By realistically modelling a generic ferrimagnet as two coupled macrospins, we comprehensively show that the net magnetization can be reversed via different pathways, using a heat pulse with duration spanning all relevant timescales within the non-adiabatic limit. This conceptual understanding is fully validated by experiments studying the material and optical limits at which the switching process in GdFeCo alloys loses its reliability. Our interpretation and results constitute a blueprint for understanding how deterministic all-optical switching can be achieved in alternative ferrimagnets using short thermal pulses.

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Cited by in corpus (29)

• Single pulse all-optical toggle switching of magnetization without Gd: The example of Mn2RuxGa
• All-optical helicity-independent switching state diagram in GdFeCo alloys
• Magnetic and all-optical switching properties of amorphous Tb${}_x$Co${}_{100-x}$ alloys
• Unifying femtosecond and picosecond single-pulse magnetic switching in GdFeCo
• All-optical switching on the nanometer scale excited and probed with femtosecond extreme ultraviolet pulses
• Universal criteria for single femtosecond pulse ultrafast magnetization switching in ferrimagnets
• Helicity-independent all-optical switching of magnetization in ferrimagnetic alloys
• Dynamic complex opto-magnetic holography
• Effect of magnetic anisotropy relaxation on laser-induced magnetization precession in thin galfenol films
• All optical resonant magnetization switching in ${\text{CrI}}_3$ monolayers
• Sub-picosecond exchange-relaxation in the compensated ferrimagnet Mn${}_2$Ru${}_x$Ga
• The role of spin-lattice coupling for ultrafast magnetization changes in rare earth metals
• Realistic micromagnetic description of all-optical ultrafast switching processes in ferrimagnetic alloys
• All-optical non-linear chiral ultrafast magnetization dynamics driven by circularly polarized magnetic fields
• All-Optical Control of Magnetization in Quantum-Confined Ultrathin Magnetic Metals
• Analysis of ultrafast magnetization switching dynamics in exchange-coupled ferromagnet-ferrimagnet heterostructures
• Magnetization reversal of a ferromagnetic Pt/Co/Pt film by helicity dependent absorption of visible to near-infrared laser pulses
• Ultrafast single-pulse all-optical switching in synthetic ferrimagnetic Tb/Co/Gd multilayers
• Cavity-Dumping a Single Infrared Pulse from a Free-Electron Laser for Two-Color Pump-Probe Experiments
• Towards high all-optical data writing rates in synthetic ferrimagnets
• Laser-driven resonant soft-X-ray scattering for probing picosecond dynamics of nanometre-scale order
• Single femtosecond laser pulse excitation of individual cobalt nanoparticles
• Strongly modulated ultrafast demagnetization and magnetization precession dynamics in ferrimagnetic Gdx(CoFe)1-x alloys via 3d-4f intersublattice exchange coupling
• Diversity of Ultrafast Spin Dynamics Near the Tricritical Point in a Ferrimagnetic Gd/FeCo Multilayer
• Electron-Phonon Scattering governs both Ultrafast and Precessional Magnetization Dynamics in Co-Fe Alloys
• Layer-Selective Magnetization Switching in the Chirped Photonic Crystal with GdFeCo
• Ultrafast demagnetization in a ferrimagnet under electromagnetic field funneling
• Floquet Engineering Clock Transitions in Magnetic Molecules
• Quality of Helicity-Dependent Magnetization Switching by Phonons