2017/02/16 by Anirban Kundu, Kundu, Anirban, Shufeng Zhang +1
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Geophysics and Sensor Technology #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1702.04823
openalex publication_date 2017/02/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
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 coupling for magnetization rotation and switching. We critically examine this scenario by explicitly calculating the magnitude of the induced orbital momentum for generic itinerant band. We show that the calculated induced angular momentum is not large enough for reversing the magnetization in one laser pulse with the order of 100 femtosecond duration. Instead, we propose that each laser pulse is capable to expand a reverse domain a few nano-meters and it takes multiple pulses to complete the magnetization reversal process via domain wall motion.