English

An attempt to simulate laser-induced all-optical spin switching in a crystalline ferrimagnet

Materials Science 2020-11-05 v1

Abstract

Interest in all-optical spin switching (AOS) is growing rapidly. The recent discovery of AOS in Mn2_2RuGa provides a much needed clean case of crystalline ferrimagnets for theoretical simulations. Here, we attempt to simulate it using the state-of-the-art first-principles method combined with the Heisenberg exchange model. We first compute the spin moments at two inequivalent manganese sites and then feed them into our model Hamiltonian. We employ an ultrafast laser pulse to switch the spins. We find that there is a similar optimal laser field amplitude to switch spins. However, we find that the exchange interaction has a significant effect on the system switchability. Weakening the exchange interaction could make the system unswitchable. This provides a crucial insight into the switching mechanism in ferrimagnets.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2011.02001,
  title  = {An attempt to simulate laser-induced all-optical spin switching in a crystalline ferrimagnet},
  author = {G. P. Zhang and Robert Meadows and Antonio Tamayo and Y. H. Bai and Thomas F. George},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2011.02001},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

5 pages, and 2 figures