Characterizing the nonequilibrium response of FeRh thin films using time-domain thermoreflectance

Harton, Renee M.; Ceballos-Sanchez, Alejandro; Unikandanunni, Vivek; Gray, Alexander X.; Bonetti, Stefano; Krüger, Peter; Hellman, Frances

doi:10.1103/physrevb.110.094417

Characterizing the nonequilibrium response of FeRh thin films using time-domain thermoreflectance

Journal Article · Tue Sep 10 00:00:00 UTC 2024 · Physical Review. B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.110.094417· OSTI ID:2504274

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Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Stockholm Univ. (Sweden)
Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
Stockholm Univ. (Sweden); Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italy)
Chiba University (Japan)

Time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) characterization of FeRh throughout its first-order antiferromagnetic (AF) to ferromagnetic (FM) transition shows that the transient reflectance ΔR⁡(t)/R strongly depends on the magnetic order of the sample. Using TDTR, which uses optical pulses to induce small temperature excursions, we have found that Δ⁢R⁡(t)/R of the AF phase exhibits a large negative response, while the response of the FM phase is positive. This magnetic phase sensitivity has allowed us to study the transient response of both the AF and FM phases to the pump-pulse excitation and the mixed phase of the material. These results are significant since the ultrafast properties of antiferromagnetic materials and mixed antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic materials are difficult to detect using other conventional techniques. We have found that the AF phase exhibits a strong subpicosecond decaying signal not observed in the FM phase. The magnetic phase dependence of the sign of Δ⁢R⁡(t)/R is qualitatively explained using the results of ab initio density functional theory calculations. Using the two-temperature model, we found that the change in the thermalization time across the transition is caused by differences in both the electronic heat capacity and the electron-phonon coupling factor of the AF and FM phases. The electron-phonon coupling constant in the AF phase is also determined using the two-temperature model conducted using the ntmpy code package. For the FM phase, we provide boundaries for the magnitude of the electron-phonon coupling factor for the FM phase. Finally, these results indicate that TDTR can be used to study the transient properties of magnetic materials that are otherwise challenging to probe.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 2504274

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2474505

Journal Information:: Physical Review. B, Journal Name: Physical Review. B Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 110; ISSN 2469-9950

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Characterizing the nonequilibrium response of FeRh thin films using time-domain thermoreflectance

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