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

MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 9: Ultrafast Magnetization Effects II

MA 9.1: Invited Talk

Monday, March 18, 2024, 15:00–15:30, H 2013

Optical control of 4f orbital state in rare-earth metals — •N. Thielemann-Kühn¹, T. Amrhein¹, W. Bronsch², S. Jana³, N. Pontius³, R. Y. Engel⁴, P. S. Miedema⁴, D. Legut⁵, K. Carva⁶, U. Atxitia¹, B. E. van Kuiken⁷, M. Teichmann⁷, R. E. Carley⁷, L. Mercadier⁷, A. Yaroslavtsev⁷, G. Mercurio⁷, L. Le Guyader⁷, N. Agarwal⁷, R. Gort⁷, A. Scherz⁷, S. Dziarzhytski⁴, G. Brenner⁴, F. Pressacco⁴, R.-P. Wang^4,10, J. O. Schunck^4,10, M. Sinha⁴, M. Beye⁴, G. S. Chiuzbăian⁹, P.. Oppeneer⁸, M. Weinelt¹, and C. Schüßler-Langeheine³ — ¹Freie Universität Berlin — ²Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste — ³Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin — ⁴Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron — ⁵IT4Innovations & Nanotechnology Centre — ⁶Charles University — ⁷European XFEL — ⁸Uppsala University — ⁹Sorbonne Université — ¹⁰Universität Hamburg

Rare-earth 4f metals play a key role in materials which allow all-optical switching and their large spin-orbit coupling can result in strong magneto-crystalline anisotropy (MCA) - a property highly relevant for stable magnetic information storage. In time-resolved X-ray absorption (XAS) and Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) studies on different 4f-metals, we found that 5d-4f inelastic electron-electron scattering leads to selective excitation in the 4f shell, which change the angular momentum J. As a consequence, the MCA and thus coupling of the 4f-spin system to its environment is manipulated on fs-timescales. In the case of Dy we observed ferro- and antiferromagnetic dynamics to be strongly affected by the altered electronic state.

Keywords: 4f Rare-earth metals; ultrafast; X-ray Absorption XAS; Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering RIXS; inelastic 5d-4f electronic scattering