Magnetic and all-optical switching properties of amorphous Tb${}_x$Co${}_{100-x}$ alloys

Abstract

Amorphous Tb${}_x$Co${}_{100-x}$ magnetic alloys exhibit a list of intriguing properties, such as perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, high magneto-optical activity and magnetization switching using ultrashort optical pulses. Varying the Tb:Co ratio in these alloys allows for tuning properties such as the saturation magnetic moment, coercive field and the performance of the light-induced magnetization switching. In this work, we investigate the magnetic, optical and magneto-optical properties of various Tb${}_x$Co${}_{100-x}$ thin film alloy compositions. We report on the effect the choice of different seeding layers has on the structural and magnetic properties of Tb${}_x$Co${}_{100-x}$ layers. We also demonstrate that for a range of alloys, deposited on fused silica substrates, with Tb content of 24-30 at.$\%$, helicity dependent all-optical switching of magnetization can be achieved, albeit in a multi-shot framework. We explain this property to arise from the helicity-dependent laser induced magnetization on the Co sublattice due to the inverse Faraday effect. Our study provides an insight into material aspects for future potential hybrid magneto-plasmonic TbCo-based architectures.

17 pages, 18 figures

References in corpus (4)

• All-optical control of ferromagnetic thin films and nanostructures
• Comparing all-optical switching in synthetic-ferrimagnetic multilayers and alloys
• Single shot all optical switching of intrinsic micron size magnetic domains of a Pt/Co/Pt ferromagnetic stack
• Magnetic and all-optical switching properties of amorphous Tb${}_x$Co${}_{100-x}$ alloys

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Magnetic and all-optical switching properties of amorphous Tb${}_x$Co${}_{100-x}$ alloys
• Influence of inter-sublattice coupling on the terahertz nutation spin dynamics in antiferromagnets
• Plasmon-enhanced optical control of magnetism at the nanoscale via the inverse Faraday effect
• Single-pulse all-optical switching in amorphous Dy${}_x$Co${}_{1-x}$ and Tb${}_x$Co${}_{1-x}$
• Direction-sensitive magnetophotonic surface crystal
• Ultrafast single-pulse all-optical switching in synthetic ferrimagnetic Tb/Co/Gd multilayers
• Steering light with magnetic textures
• Melting of magnetic order in ${\mathrm{NaOsO}}_3$ by fs laser pulses
• Ultrafast demagnetization in a ferrimagnet under electromagnetic field funneling
• Electronic mechanism of sub-100-fs demagnetization induced by a femtosecond light pulse