Single-pulse all-optical switching in amorphous Dy$_x$Co$_{1-x}\text{ }$ and Tb$_x$Co$_{1-x}$

Zexiang Hu; Jean Besbas; Ross Smith; Niclas Teichert; Gwenael Atcheson; Karsten Rode; Plamen Stamenov; J. M. D. Coey

doi:10.1063/5.0077226

paper

Single-pulse all-optical switching in amorphous Dy $_{x}$ Co $_{1 - x}$ and Tb $_{x}$ Co $_{1 - x}$

arXiv:2111.14587 · doi:10.1063/5.0077226

Abstract

Repeated uniform switching of the magnetization of thin films of ferrimagnetic amorphous Gd $_{x}$ (FeCo) $_{1 - x}$ in response to single fast laser pulses is well established. Here we report unusual toggle switching in thin films of sperimagnetic amorphous Dy $_{x}$ Co $_{1 - x}$ and Tb $_{x}$ Co $_{1 - x}$ with $x ≃$ 0.25 irradiated with single 200 fs pulses of 800 nm laser light. The samples have strong local random anisotropy due to the non-S state rare earth. The compensation temperature of the films is $\leq$ 180 K and their Curie temperature is $≃$ 500 K. They are mostly switched by the first pulse, and subsequent pulses lead to partial re-switching of a decreasing amount of the irradiated area, with a granular structure of submicron regions of switched and unswitched material. Individual switched domains about 700 nm in size are observed around the edge of the irradiated spots where the fluence is at the threshold for switching. Results are discussed in terms of a random anisotropy model where the ratio of local anisotropy to exchange is temperature dependent and close to the threshold for strong pinning.

arXiv commentThe following article has been submitted to Applied Physics Letters - Special Issue

Single-pulse all-optical switching in amorphous Dy $_{x}$ Co $_{1 - x}$ and Tb $_{x}$ Co $_{1 - x}$

Abstract

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Single-pulse all-optical switching in amorphous Dyx​Co1−x​ and Tbx​Co1−x​

Abstract

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Cited by in corpus (2)

Single-pulse all-optical switching in amorphous Dy $_{x}$ Co $_{1 - x}$ and Tb $_{x}$ Co $_{1 - x}$