2017/02/28 by Jon Gorchon, Charles-Henri Lambert, Yang Yang +4 · 1 citation
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #2D Materials and Applications #Coupling (piping) #Ferromagnetism #Laser #Magnetic domain #Magnetic properties of thin films #Magnetization #Magneto-Optical Properties and Applications #Pulse (music) #Remanence #Ultrashort pulse #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.4994802
published as Appl. Phys. Lett. 111, 042401 (2017) · 11 pages, 3 figures, supplementary materials
openalex created_date 2017/03/16 · openalex publication_date 2017/07/24 · arxiv created 2017/07/30 · arxiv updated 2017/08/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
A single femto-second optical pulse can fully reverse the magnetization of a film within picoseconds. Such fast operation hugely increases the range of application of magnetic devices. However, so far, this type of ultrafast switching has been restricted to ferri-magnetic GdFeCo films. In contrast, all optical switching of ferro-magnetic films require multiple pulses, thereby being slower and less energy efficient. Here, we demonstrate magnetization switching induced by a single laser pulse in various ferromagnetic Co/Pt multilayers grown on GdFeCo, by exploiting the exchange coupling between the two magnetic films. Table-top depth-sensitive time-resolved magneto-optical experiments show that the Co/Pt magnetization switches within 7 ps. This coupling approach will allow ultrafast control of a variety of magnetic films, which is critical for applications.