Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 46: Focus Session: THz meets X-ray

O 46.4: Topical Talk

Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 12:00–12:30, MA 001

THz induced spin motions probed by x-rays — •Urs Staub — Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland

Multiferroics - materials with more than one type of ferric ordering - have attracted strong interest for potential applications where electric fields control magnetic order. The ultimate speed of control via magnetoelectric coupling, however, remains largely unexplored. I will discuss results on multiferroics that show distinct excitations in the THz absorption spectra that are called electromagnons. Intense few-cycle terahertz (THz) pulses can therefore excite both, the lattice (electric polarization) and the magnetic (spin) subsystems [1], and its motions observed using time-resolved x-ray diffraction. Such a selective excitation has very different impact on the system then the usual 800 nm light excitation. It opens up possible ways of manipulating magnetic and atomic structures using the electric field of light on a sub-picosecond timescale.

[1] T. Kubacka et al. Science 343, 1333 (2014).