Ultrafast heating as a sufficient stimulus for magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnet

Ostler, T. A.; Barker, J.; Evans, R. F.L.; Chantrell, R. W.; Atxitia, U.; Chubykalo-Fesenko, O.; El Moussaoui, S.; Le Guyader, L.; Mengotti, E.; Heyderman, L. J.; Nolting, F.; Tsukamoto, A.; Itoh, A.; Afanasiev, D.; Ivanov, B. A.; Kalashnikova, A. M.; Vahaplar, K.; Mentink, J.; Kirilyuk, A.; Rasing, Th; Kimel, A. V.

Abstract

The question of how, and how fast, magnetization can be reversed is a topic of great practical interest for the manipulation and storage of magnetic information. It is generally accepted that magnetization reversal should be driven by a stimulus represented by time-non-invariant vectors such as a magnetic field, spin-polarized electric current, or cross-product of two oscillating electric fields. However, until now it has been generally assumed that heating alone, not represented as a vector at all, cannot result in a deterministic reversal of magnetization, although it may assist this process. Here we show numerically and demonstrate experimentally a novel mechanism of deterministic magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnet driven by an ultrafast heating of the medium resulting from the absorption of a sub-picosecond laser pulse without the presence of a magnetic field. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

Citation

Ostler, T. A., Barker, J., Evans, R. F., Chantrell, R. W., Atxitia, U., Chubykalo-Fesenko, O., …Kimel, A. V. (2012). Ultrafast heating as a sufficient stimulus for magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnet. Nature communications, 3, Article 666. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1666

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 5, 2012
• Online Publication Date: Feb 7, 2012
• Publication Date: Mar 7, 2012
• Deposit Date: Jun 15, 2022
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 3
• Article Number: 666
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1666
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4014508