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Title: Experimental demonstration of 55-fs spin canting in photoexcited iron nanoarrays

Abstract

As magnetic storage density approaches 1TB/in2, a grand challenge is looming as how to read/write such a huge amount of data within a reasonable time. The ultrafast optical manipulation of magnetization offers a solution, but little is known about the intrinsic speed limit of quantum spin switching. Here, we report that low-energy 50-fs laser pulses can induce spin canting in Fe nanoparticles within 55 fs, breaking the previous record by at least one order of magnitude. Both linearly and circularly polarized light can be used to tilt spins. In our model, the incident laser field first excites the orbital angular momentum, and through spin-orbit coupling, the spin cants out-of-plane and results in a distinctive diamond hysteresis loop. The spin canting time decreases with spin angular momentum. This spin canting is not limited to Fe nanoparticles and is also observed in Fe/Pt and Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Our results demonstrate the potential of magnetic nanostructures as a viable magnetic medium for high density and fast-switching magnetic storage devices.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Hunter College of the City Univ. of New York, New York, NY (United States); The City Univ. of New York, New York, NY (United States)
  2. Indiana State Univ., Terre Haute, IN (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Indiana State Univ., Terre Haute, IN (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1466012
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1497728
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG02-06ER46304; AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 110; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS

Citation Formats

Ren, Yuhang, Lai, Wei, Cevher, Zehra, Gong, Yu, and Zhang, G. P. Experimental demonstration of 55-fs spin canting in photoexcited iron nanoarrays. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4977097.
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Ren, Yuhang, Lai, Wei, Cevher, Zehra, Gong, Yu, & Zhang, G. P. Experimental demonstration of 55-fs spin canting in photoexcited iron nanoarrays. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4977097
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Ren, Yuhang, Lai, Wei, Cevher, Zehra, Gong, Yu, and Zhang, G. P. Mon . "Experimental demonstration of 55-fs spin canting in photoexcited iron nanoarrays". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4977097. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1466012.
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@article{osti_1466012,
title = {Experimental demonstration of 55-fs spin canting in photoexcited iron nanoarrays},
author = {Ren, Yuhang and Lai, Wei and Cevher, Zehra and Gong, Yu and Zhang, G. P.},
abstractNote = {As magnetic storage density approaches 1TB/in2, a grand challenge is looming as how to read/write such a huge amount of data within a reasonable time. The ultrafast optical manipulation of magnetization offers a solution, but little is known about the intrinsic speed limit of quantum spin switching. Here, we report that low-energy 50-fs laser pulses can induce spin canting in Fe nanoparticles within 55 fs, breaking the previous record by at least one order of magnitude. Both linearly and circularly polarized light can be used to tilt spins. In our model, the incident laser field first excites the orbital angular momentum, and through spin-orbit coupling, the spin cants out-of-plane and results in a distinctive diamond hysteresis loop. The spin canting time decreases with spin angular momentum. This spin canting is not limited to Fe nanoparticles and is also observed in Fe/Pt and Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Our results demonstrate the potential of magnetic nanostructures as a viable magnetic medium for high density and fast-switching magnetic storage devices.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4977097},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
number = 8,
volume = 110,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Mon Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4977097
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Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 4 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Experimental schematic of the time-resolved magneto-optical Faraday effect on Fe nanoparticle arrays under Voigt geometry. Bottom right inset: the SNOM image of our sample. The dot diameter is about 50 nm and the center-to-center distance is 100 nm. The bar shows the scale of the image.
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Theoretical Investigation of All Optical Switching by Intersystem Crossing
    journal, December 2019

    • Zou, Yuhao; Wang, Haiwei; Huang, Haozhe
    • Applied Sciences, Vol. 10, Issue 1
    • DOI: 10.3390/app10010128
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      Figures / Tables found in this record:

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