English

THz-driven demagnetization with Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy: Towards ultrafast ballistic switching

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2018-03-14 v2

Abstract

We study THz-driven spin dynamics in thin CoPt films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Femtosecond magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements show that demagnetization amplitude of about 1%1\% can be achieved with a peak THz electric field of 300300~kV/cm, and a corresponding peak magnetic field of 0.10.1~T. The effect is more than an order of magnitude larger than observed in samples with easy-plane anisotropy irradiated with the same field strength. We also utilize finite-element simulations to design a meta-material structure that can enhance the THz magnetic field by more than an order of magnitude, over an area of several tens of square micrometers. Magnetic fields exceeding 11~Tesla, generated in such meta-materials with the available laser-based THz sources, are expected to produce full magnetization reversal via ultrafast ballistic precession driven by the THz radiation. Our results demonstrate the possibility of table-top ultrafast magnetization reversal induced by THz radiation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1711.01234,
  title  = {THz-driven demagnetization with Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy: Towards ultrafast ballistic switching},
  author = {Debanjan Polley and Matteo Pancaldi and Matthias Hudl and Paolo Vavassori and Sergei Urazhdin and Stefano Bonetti},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.01234},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

9 pages, 5 figures