Laser induced magnetization switching in films with perpendicular anisotropy: a comparison between measurements and a multi-macrospin model
Abstract
Thermally-assisted ultra-fast magnetization reversal in a DC magnetic field for magnetic multilayer thin films with perpendicular anisotropy has been investigated in the time domain using femtosecond laser heating. The experiment is set-up as an optically pumped stroboscopic Time Resolved Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect magnetometer. It is observed that a modest laser fluence of about 0.3 mJ/square-cm induces switching of the magnetization in an applied field much less than the DC coercivity (0.8 T) on the sub-nanosecond time-scale. This switching was thermally-assisted by the energy from the femtosecond pump-pulse. The experimental results are compared with a model based on the Landau Lifschitz Bloch equation. The comparison supports a description of the reversal process as an ultra-fast demagnetization and partial recovery followed by slower thermally activated switching due to the spin system remaining at an elevated temperature after the heating pulse.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0906.5457,
title = {Laser induced magnetization switching in films with perpendicular anisotropy: a comparison between measurements and a multi-macrospin model},
author = {C. Bunce and J. Wu and G. Ju and B. Lu and D. Hinzke and N. Kazantseva and U. Nowak and R. W. Chantrell},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0906.5457},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
8 pages, 10 figures, to be submitted to PRB