Laser-induced real-space topology control of spin wave resonances

Abstract

Femtosecond laser excitation of materials that exhibit magnetic spin textures promises advanced magnetic control via the generation of ultrafast and non-equilibrium spin dynamics. We explore such possibilities in ferrimagnetic [Fe(0.35 nm)/Gd(0.40 nm)]${}_{160}$ multilayers, which host a rich diversity of magnetic textures from stripe domains at low magnetic fields, a dense bubble/skyrmion lattice at intermediate fields, and a single domain state for high magnetic fields. Using femtosecond magneto-optics, we observe distinct coherent spin wave dynamics in response to a weak laser excitation allowing us to unambiguously identify the different magnetic spin textures. Moreover, employing strong laser excitation we show that we achieve versatile control of the coherent spin dynamics via non-equilibrium and ultrafast transformation of magnetic spin textures by both creating and annihilating bubbles/skyrmions. We corroborate our findings by micromagnetic simulations and by Lorentz transmission electron microscopy before and after laser exposure.

19 article pages, 12 supplementary

References in corpus (7)

• Advances in the Physics of Magnetic Skyrmions and Perspective for Technology
• Spontaneous Skyrmion Ground States in Magnetic Metals
• Roadmap on Spin-Wave Computing
• Tailoring magnetic energies to form dipole skyrmions and skyrmion lattices
• A light induced metastable magnetic texture uncovered by in-situ Lorentz microscopy
• Laser-induced topological spin switching in a 2D van der Waals magnet
• Optically excited spin dynamics of thermally metastable skyrmions in Fe${}_{0.75}$Co${}_{0.25}$Si

Cited by in corpus (4)

• All optical control of bubble and skyrmion breathing
• Laser-driven resonant soft-X-ray scattering for probing picosecond dynamics of nanometre-scale order
• Pathways to Bubble and Skyrmion Lattice Formation in Fe/Gd Multilayers
• Controlling bubble and skyrmion lattice order and dynamics via stripe domain engineering in ferrimagnetic Fe/Gd multilayers