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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus
MA 14: Spin Dynamics / Spin Torque I
MA 14.2: Talk
Wednesday, March 24, 2010, 10:00–10:15, H10
Element-specific Study of the Ultrafast Magnetization Switching on GdFeCo — •Ilie Radu1,2, Kadir Vahaplar1, Alexey Kimel1, Christian Stamm2, Torsten Kachel2, Niko Pontius2, Hermann Duerr2, Arata Tsukamoto3, Andrei Kirilyuk1, and Theo Rasing1 — 1IMM/SSI, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands — 2Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, BESSY II, Germany — 3College of Science and Technology, Nihon University, Chiba, Japan
Recent time-resolved magneto-optical studies of GdFeCo performed in the visible spectral range have demonstrated the intriguing possibility of all-optical magnetization reversal with 40 fs laser pulses. So far, a complete understanding of the switching mechanism and of the involved elementary processes is still lacking. Here, we report on time-resolved X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (TRXMCD) studies of the fs laser-induced magnetization switching of the ferrimagnetic GdFeCo alloy. We trigger the magnetization switching by fs laser heating the material across its magnetization compensation temperature using linearly polarized laser pulses. The subsequent magnetization dynamics is probed with 10 ps X-ray pulses by TRXMCD measured at the absorption edges of Fe and Gd. TRXMCD data reveal an intricate transient magnetization dynamics: A rapid demagnetization accompanied by the onset of the magnetization switching and subsequently the full development of the magnetization reversed state on a few 100 ps.
Funding from European Union through UltraMagnetron Program is gratefully acknowledged.