SKM 2021 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 15: Posters Magnetism IV

MA 15.1: Poster

Thursday, September 30, 2021, 13:30–16:30, P

Coherent all-optical switching of an antiferromagnet — •Tobias Dannegger¹, Marco Berritta², Karel Carva³, Severin Selzer¹, Ulrike Ritzmann^2,4, Peter M. Oppeneer², and Ulrich Nowak¹ — ¹Fachbereich Physik, Universität Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany — ²Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-75120 Uppsala, Sweden — ³Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Ke Karlovu 5, CZ-121 16 Prague, Czech Republic — ⁴Dahlem Center of Complex Quantum Systems and Department of Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, D-14195 Berlin, Germany

The physics of ultrafast magnetisation switching holds great potential for future magnetic storage applications. Much research has been conducted on ferro- and ferrimagnetic switching but more recent progress in spintronics has begun to utilise the advantages of antiferromagnets, such as robustness against external magnetic fields and high-frequency spin dynamics. Based on density functional theory calculations and atomistic spin dynamics simulations, we show, using the example of the easy-plane antiferromagnet CrPt, that the properties of antiferromagnets allow for a coherently induced ultrafast all-optical switching process that does not require the thermally induced demagnetisation of the material. This process is facilitated by the inverse Faraday effect, which, as our calculations reveal, induces staggered magnetic moments in the material. This can be used to achieve controllable switching between two perpendicular magnetisation states.