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Rapid growth of the area of ultrafast magnetism has allowed to achieve a substantial progress in all-optical magnetic recording with femtosecond laser pulses and triggered intense discussions about microscopic mechanisms responsible for this phenomenon. The typically used metallic medium nevertheless considerably limits the applications because of the unavoidable heat dissipation. In contrast, the recently demonstrated photo-magnetic recording in transparent dielectric garnet for all practical purposes is dissipation-free. This discovery raised question about selection rules, i.e. the optimal wavelength and the polarization of light, for such a recording. Here we report the computationally and experimentally identified workspace of parameters allowing photo-magnetic recording in Co-doped iron garnet using femtosecond laser pulses. The revealed selection rules indicate that the excitations responsible for the coupling of light to spins are d - d electron transitions in octahedral and tetrahedral Co-sublattices, respectively. The authors computationally and experimentally derive the selection rules on polarization, wavelengths, and magnetic damping for non-dissipative аll-optical magnetic recording with femtosecond laser pulses in Co-doped garnet film. The suggested approach is based on a multiple resonant pumping of localized d -electron transitions.

Future information technology demands ever-faster, low-loss quantum control. Intense light fields have facilitated milestones along this way, including the induction of novel states of matter 1 – 3 , ballistic acceleration of electrons 4 – 7 and coherent flipping of the valley pseudospin 8 . These dynamics leave unique ‘fingerprints’, such as characteristic bandgaps or high-order harmonic radiation. The fastest and least dissipative way of switching the technologically most important quantum attribute—the spin—between two states separated by a potential barrier is to trigger an all-coherent precession. Experimental and theoretical studies with picosecond electric and magnetic fields have suggested this possibility 9 – 11 , yet observing the actual spin dynamics has remained out of reach. Here we show that terahertz electromagnetic pulses allow coherent steering of spins over a potential barrier, and we report the corresponding temporal and spectral fingerprints. This goal is achieved by coupling spins in antiferromagnetic TmFeO 3 (thulium orthoferrite) with the locally enhanced terahertz electric field of custom-tailored antennas. Within their duration of one picosecond, the intense terahertz pulses abruptly change the magnetic anisotropy and trigger a large-amplitude ballistic spin motion. A characteristic phase flip, an asymmetric splitting of the collective spin resonance and a long-lived offset of the Faraday signal are hallmarks of coherent spin switching into adjacent potential minima, in agreement with numerical simulations. The switchable states can be selected by an external magnetic bias. The low dissipation and the antenna’s subwavelength spatial definition could facilitate scalable spin devices operating at terahertz rates. Antenna-enhanced terahertz pulses ballistically switch spins in antiferromagnetic TmFeO 3 with minimal energy dissipation between metastable minima of the anisotropy potential, as characterized by unique temporal and spectral fingerprints.

Understanding how fast short-range interactions build up long-range order is one of the most intriguing topics in condensed matter physics. FeRh is a test specimen for studying this problem in magnetism, where the microscopic spin-spin exchange interaction is ultimately responsible for either ferro- or antiferromagnetic macroscopic order. Femtosecond laser excitation can induce ferromagnetism in antiferromagnetic FeRh, but the mechanism and dynamics of this transition are topics of intense debates. Employing double-pump THz emission spectroscopy has enabled us to dramatically increase the temporal detection window of THz emission probes of transient states without sacrificing any loss of resolution or sensitivity. It allows us to study the kinetics of emergent ferromagnetism from the femtosecond up to the nanosecond timescales in FeRh/Pt bilayers. Our results strongly suggest a latency period between the initial pump-excitation and the emission of THz radiation by ferromagnetic nuclei. Using ultrashort laser pulses it is possible to induce ferromagnetic ordering in otherwise anti-ferromagnetic FeRh. Here, Li et al. use THz emission spectroscopy with double pump to probe the transient dynamics of this transition, showing the insusceptibility of the ferromagnetic order to applied magnetic fields at picosecond timescales.

AbstractThe possibility of significant modulation of the band gap open at the Dirac point (DP) in the range from 15 to 55 meV for different samples of the antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4 is shown using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The density functional theory is used to analyze the relation between the gap at the DP and the surface potential gradient, the change of which is modeled by the application of an electric field normal to the (0001) MnBi2Te4 surface. The possibility of both decreasing and increasing the DP gap in the range from 5 to 89 meV with respect to the initial value of 81 meV due to the application of a field is shown. When a field is applied, the localization of topological surface states and the magnetic moments of surface atoms change. Our analysis demonstrates the possibility of an artificial band gap modulation at the DP over a wide energy range, which can be used to modulate the magnetoelectric properties of MnBi2Te4-based systems in applied research and problems.

Plasmonics allows light to be localized on length scales much shorter than its wavelength, which makes it possible to integrate photonics and electronics on the nanoscale. Magneto-optical materials are appealing for applications in plasmonics because they open up the possibility of using external magnetic fields in plasmonic devices. Here, we fabricate a new magneto-optical material, a magnetoplasmonic crystal, that consists of a nanostructured noble-metal film on top of a ferromagnetic dielectric, and we demonstrate an enhanced Kerr effect with this material. Such magnetoplasmonic crystals could have applications in telecommunications, magnetic field sensing and all-optical magnetic data storage. A new magneto-optical material consisting of a nanostructured gold film on top of a ferromagnetic dielectric demonstrated significantly enhanced Faraday and Kerr effects.

Ultrafast heating of FeRh by a femtosecond laser pulse launches a magneto-structural phase transition from an antiferromagnetic to a ferromagnetic state. Aiming to reveal the ultrafast kinetics of this transition, we studied magnetization dynamics with the help of the magneto-optical Kerr effect in a broad range of temperatures (from 4 K to 400 K) and magnetic fields (up to 25 T). Three different types of ultrafast magnetization dynamics were observed and, using a numerically calculated H-T phase diagram, the differences were explained by different initial states of FeRh corresponding to a (i) collinear antiferromagnetic, (ii) canted antiferromagnetic and (iii) ferromagnetic alignment of spins. We argue that ultrafast heating of FeRh in the canted antiferromagnetic phase launches practically the fastest possible emergence of ferromagnetism in this material. The magnetization emerges on a time scale of 2 ps, which corresponds to the earlier reported time scale of the structural changes during the phase transition.

Terbium gallium garnet is used to demonstrate a new approach to magneto-optical modulation at frequencies up to 1.1 THz. The magneto-optical Faraday effect played a crucial role in the elucidation of the electromagnetic nature of light. Today it is powerful means to probe magnetism and the basic operational principle of magneto-optical modulators. Understanding the mechanisms allowing for modulation of the magneto-optical response at terahertz frequencies may have far-reaching consequences for photonics 1 , ultrafast optomagnetism 2 , 3 , 4 and magnonics 5 , 6 , as well as for future development of ultrafast Faraday modulators. Here we suggest a conceptually new approach for an ultrafast tunable magneto-optical modulation with the help of counter-propagating laser pulses. Using terbium gallium garnet (Tb 3 Ga 5 O 12 ) we demonstrate the feasibility of such magneto-optical modulation with a frequency up to 1.1 THz, which is continuously tunable by means of an external magnetic field. Besides the novel concept for ultrafast magneto-optical polarization modulation, our findings reveal the importance of accounting for propagation effects in the interpretation of pump–probe magneto-optical experiments.

AbstractUltrafast processes of the spin dynamics in iron borate FeBO3 are considered theoretically; the mechanisms responsible for excitation of quasi-ferromagnetic as well as quasi-antiferromagnetic spin resonance modes by a one-period terahertz pulse are indicated. In full agreement with experimental observations [27], the excitation of the high-frequency quasi-antiferromagnetic mode is resonant by nature, and its amplitude is a linear function of the electric field of the terahertz pulse. The amplitude of the low-frequency quasi-ferromagnetic mode is a quadratic function of the electric field of the pulse, and the excitation of this mode is governed by the mechanism of the inverse Cotton–Mouton effect.

Optical tools are promising for spin-wave generation because of the possibilities of ultrafast manipulation and local excitation. However, a single laser pulse can inject spin waves (SWs) only with a broad frequency spectrum, resulting in short propagation distances and low wave amplitudes. Here, we excite a magnetic garnet film by a train of fs-laser pulses with a 1-GHz repetition rate so that the pulse separation is shorter than the decay time of magnetic modes, which allows us to achieve a collective impact on the magnetization and establish a quasistationary source of spin waves, namely, a coherent accumulation of magnons (“magnon cloud”). This approach has several appealing features: (i) The magnon source is tunable, (ii) the SW amplitude can be significantly enhanced, (iii) the SW spectrum is quite narrow, providing long-distance propagation, (iv) the periodic pumping results in an almost constant-in-time SW amplitude for the distances larger than 20μm away from the source, and (v) the SW emission shows pronounced directionality. These results expand the capabilities of ultrafast coherent optical control of magnetization and pave the way for applications in data processing, including the quantum regime. The quasistationary magnon accumulation might also be of interest for applications in magnon Bose-Einstein condensates.

A theoretical model is proposed for calculating the H‒T phase diagrams of a rare-earth ferrimagnet. The model considers the effects of each magnetic sublattice and the induced surface anisotropy. The magnetic phase diagrams are calculated numerically. Surface anisotropy blurs the lines of the second-order phase transition between the collinear and angular phases, the displacement of the tricritical point, and the possible formation of new phase transition lines.