Ultrashort magnetic impulses driven by coherent control with vector beams

We introduce a new technique for the generation of magnetic impulses. This technique is based on coherent control of electrical currents using cylindrical laser beams with azimuthal polarization. When used to ionize a medium, in this case atomic hydrogen is considered, an azimuthal current impulse is driven. The spatial distribution of this current bears close resemblance to that of a solenoid, and produces a magnetic field impulse. The excitation and relaxation dynamics of this current temporally confine the resulting magnetic field to a Tesla-scale, terahertz bandwidth impulse. Importantly, the magnetic fields are spatially isolated from electric fields. This all-optical approach will enable ultrafast time-domain spectroscopy of magnetic phenomena.