Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

State-resolved ultrafast charge and spin dynamics in [Co/Pd] multilayers

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0076953· OSTI ID:1867501
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [8];  [5];  [3];  [5];  [9]
  1. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); European XFEL, Schenefeld (Germany)
  2. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  3. Stockholm Univ. (Sweden)
  4. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Univ. of Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
  5. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  6. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  7. HGST a Western Digital Company, San Jose, CA (United States); Chemnitz Univ. of Technology (Germany); Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Dresden (Germany)
  8. Eindhoven Univ. of Technology (The Netherlands)
  9. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Uppsala Univ. (Sweden)

We use transient absorption spectroscopy with circularly polarized x rays to detect laser-excited hole states below the Fermi level and compare their dynamics with that of unoccupied states above the Fermi level in ferromagnetic [Co/Pd] multilayers. While below the Fermi level, an instantaneous and significantly stronger demagnetization is observed, above the Fermi level, the demagnetization is delayed by 35 ± 10 fs. This provides a direct visualization of how ultrafast demagnetization proceeds via initial spin-flip scattering of laser-excited holes to the subsequent formation of spin waves.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1867501
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 120; ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (50)

Band theoretical investigation of circular magnetic X-ray dichroism in Fe and Co multilayers journal July 1995
Laser-Induced Intersite Spin Transfer journal February 2018
Distinguishing the ultrafast dynamics of spin and orbital moments in solids journal May 2010
Transient ferromagnetic-like state mediating ultrafast reversal of antiferromagnetically coupled spins journal March 2011
Nanoscale interface confinement of ultrafast spin transfer torque driving non-uniform spin dynamics journal April 2017
Ultrafast heating as a sufficient stimulus for magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnet journal January 2012
Ultrafast magnetization enhancement in metallic multilayers driven by superdiffusive spin current journal January 2012
Ultrafast optical demagnetization manipulates nanoscale spin structure in domain walls journal January 2012
Ultrafast spin-transfer torque driven by femtosecond pulsed-laser excitation journal July 2014
Femtosecond modification of electron localization and transfer of angular momentum in nickel journal August 2007
Explaining the paradoxical diversity of ultrafast laser-induced demagnetization journal December 2009
Ultrafast spin transport as key to femtosecond demagnetization journal January 2013
Engineered materials for all-optical helicity-dependent magnetic switching journal February 2014
Terahertz spin current pulses controlled by magnetic heterostructures journal March 2013
Polarization control in an X-ray free-electron laser journal May 2016
Spin-current-mediated rapid magnon localisation and coalescence after ultrafast optical pumping of ferrimagnetic alloys journal April 2019
The ultrafast Einstein–de Haas effect journal January 2019
Linac Coherent Light Source soft x-ray materials science instrument optical design and monochromator commissioning journal September 2011
Femtosecond X-ray magnetic circular dichroism absorption spectroscopy at an X-ray free electron laser journal March 2016
Probing the timescale of the exchange interaction in a ferromagnetic alloy journal March 2012
Magneto-optical effects in transition metal systems journal December 1996
Ultrafast demagnetization in Ni: theory of magneto-optics for non-equilibrium electron distributions journal July 2004
Tracking the ultrafast nonequilibrium energy flow between electronic and lattice degrees of freedom in crystalline nickel journal March 2020
Dynamics of electron-magnon interaction and ultrafast demagnetization in thin iron films journal November 2008
Femtosecond x-ray absorption spectroscopy of spin and orbital angular momentum in photoexcited Ni films during ultrafast demagnetization journal March 2010
Theory of laser-induced ultrafast superdiffusive spin transport in layered heterostructures journal July 2012
Ab initio theory of electron-phonon mediated ultrafast spin relaxation of laser-excited hot electrons in transition-metal ferromagnets journal May 2013
Testing spin-flip scattering as a possible mechanism of ultrafast demagnetization in ordered magnetic alloys journal November 2014
Stoner versus Heisenberg: Ultrafast exchange reduction and magnon generation during laser-induced demagnetization journal December 2016
Speed and efficiency of femtosecond spin current injection into a nonmagnetic material journal September 2017
Superdiffusive Spin Transport as a Mechanism of Ultrafast Demagnetization journal July 2010
Ultrafast Magnon Generation in an Fe Film on Cu(100) journal November 2010
Role of Spin-Flip Exchange Scattering for Hot-Electron Lifetimes in Cobalt journal July 2011
Ab Initio Investigation of the Elliott-Yafet Electron-Phonon Mechanism in Laser-Induced Ultrafast Demagnetization journal November 2011
Many-Body Theory of Ultrafast Demagnetization and Angular Momentum Transfer in Ferromagnetic Transition Metals journal November 2015
X-ray circular dichroism as a probe of orbital magnetization journal March 1992
X-ray circular dichroism and local magnetic fields journal February 1993
Limitation of the Magnetic-Circular-Dichroism Spin Sum Rule for Transition Metals and Importance of the Magnetic Dipole Term journal October 1994
Ultrafast Spin Dynamics in Ferromagnetic Nickel journal May 1996
Femtosecond Electron and Spin Dynamics in N i / W ( 110 ) Films journal June 2003
Spin-Polarized Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy of High Energy, Large Wave Vector Spin Waves in Ultrathin fcc Co Films on Cu(001) journal September 2003
Electronic Quasiparticle Renormalization on the Spin Wave Energy Scale journal March 2004
Unifying Ultrafast Magnetization Dynamics journal December 2005
All-Optical Magnetic Recording with Circularly Polarized Light journal July 2007
Ultrafast optical manipulation of magnetic order journal September 2010
Interface-induced phenomena in magnetism journal June 2017
Band structure evolution during the ultrafast ferromagnetic-paramagnetic phase transition in cobalt journal March 2017
Ultrafast optically induced spin transfer in ferromagnetic alloys journal January 2020
All-optical control of ferromagnetic thin films and nanostructures journal August 2014
Time-resolved pump-probe experiments at the LCLS journal January 2010