Related papers: Where does the spin angular momentum go in laser i…
Laser induced ultrafast demagnetization is the process whereby the magnetic moment of a ferromagnetic material is seen to drop significantly on a timescale of $10-100$s of femtoseconds due to the application of a strong laser pulse. If this…
Optically induced demagnetization of 3d metallic ferromagnets proceeds as fast as ~100 fs and is a crucial prerequisite for spintronic applications, such as ultrafast magnetization switching and spin transport. On the 100 fs time scale, the…
Time-dependent density functional theory is implemented in an all electron solid-state code for the case of fully non-collinear spins. We use this to study laser induced demagnetization in Fe, Co and Ni. It is shown that this…
When a laser pulse excites a ferromagnet, its spin undergoes a dramatic change. The initial demagnetization process is very fast. Experimentally, it is found that the demagnetization time is related to the spin moment in the sample. In this…
The original observation of the Einstein-de Haas effect was a landmark experiment in the early history of modern physics that illustrates the relationship between magnetism and angular momentum. Today the effect is still discussed in…
Induced by an ultra-short laser pulse, the electronic structure of a material undergoes strong modifications leading to a fast demagnetization in magnetic materials. Induced spin-flip transitions are one of the reasons for demagnetization,…
Since the beginning of femtomagnetism, it has been hotly debated how an ultrafast laser pulse can demagnetize a sample and switch its spins within a few hundred femtoseconds, but no consensus has been reached. In this paper, we propose that…
Laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization is an important phenomenon that probes arguably ultimate limits of the angular momentum dynamics in solid. Unfortunately, many aspects of the dynamics remain unclear except that the demagnetization…
Irradiating a ferromagnetic material with an ultrashort laser pulse leads to demagnetization on a femtosecond timescale. We implement Elliott-Yafet type spin-flip scattering, mediated by electron-electron and electron-phonon collisions,…
With the goal of pushing Spintronic devices towards faster and faster timescales, we demonstrate, using ab-intio time-dependent density functional theory simulations of bulk Heusler compounds subject to ultrashort intense laser pulses, that…
Laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization is a phenomenon of utmost interest and attracts significant attention because it enables potential applications in ultrafast optoelectronics and spintronics. As a spin-orbit coupling assisted magnetic…
The discovery of femtosecond laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization in 1996 opened a new field, femtomagnetism, in which magnetic order can be quenched on timescales shorter than a picosecond. This seminal observation revealed that angular…
We discuss a joint microscopic theory for the laser-induced magnetization dynamics and spin transport in magnetic heterostructures based on the $s$-$d$ interaction. Angular momentum transfer is mediated by scattering of itinerant $s$…
Laser-induced femtosecond demagnetization, femtomagnetism, offers a potential route to develop faster magnetic storage devices. It is generally believed that the traditional spin-wave theory, which is developed for thermally driven slow…
In past decades, ultrafast spin dynamics in magnetic systems have been associated with heat deposition from high energy laser pulses, limiting the selective access to spin order. Here we use a long wavelength terahertz pump optical probe…
Laser pulses are known to induce symmetric demagnetization: equal loss of magnetic moments in the identical sublattices of antiferromagnets and ferromagnets at ultrashort timescales. Using time-dependent density functional theory, we show…
We follow for the first time the evolution of the spin and orbital angular momentum of a thin Ni film during ultrafast demagnetization, by means of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. Both components decrease with a 130 +/- 40 fs time…
The observed magnetization switching by circularly polarized ultrafast laser pulses has been attributed to the inverse Faraday effect in which the induced non-equilibrium orbital momentum serves as an effective magnetic filed via spin-orbit…
The ultrafast dynamics of magnetic order in a ferromagnet are governed by the interplay between electronic, magnetic and lattice degrees of freedom. In order to obtain a microscopic understanding of ultrafast demagnetization, information on…
The microscopic origin of laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization remains an open question, to which the non-thermal electronic distribution plays a vital role at the initial stage. Herein, we investigate the connection between the…