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Title: Direct light–induced spin transfer between different elements in a spintronic Heusler material via femtosecond laser excitation

Abstract

Heusler compounds are exciting materials for future spintronics applications because they display a wide range of tunable electronic and magnetic interactions. Here, we use a femtosecond laser to directly transfer spin polarization from one element to another in a half-metallic Heusler material, Co2MnGe. This spin transfer initiates as soon as light is incident on the material, demonstrating spatial transfer of angular momentum between neighboring atomic sites on time scales < 10 fs. Using ultrafast high harmonic pulses to simultaneously and independently probe the magnetic state of two elements during laser excitation, we find that the magnetization of Co is enhanced, while that of Mn rapidly quenches. Density functional theory calculations show that the optical excitation directly transfers spin from one magnetic sublattice to another through preferred spin-polarized excitation pathways. This direct manipulation of spins via light provides a path toward spintronic devices that can operate on few-femtosecond or faster time scales.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [3];  [1]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7];  [6];  [1]
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  1. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, CO (United States)
  2. University of Kaiserslautern (Germany). Research Center OPTIMAS
  3. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, CO (United States)
  4. University Uppsala (Sweden). Department of Physics and Astronomy
  5. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany). I. Physikalisches Institut
  6. University Uppsala (Sweden). Department of Physics and Astronomy; Örebro University (Sweden). School of Science and Technology
  7. Luleå University (Sweden). Department of Engineering Sciences and Mathematics
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
OSTI Identifier:
1626056
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1678721; OSTI ID: 1957801
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0002002; SC0017643
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Science Advances
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 6; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAAS
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; Science & Technology - Other Topics

Citation Formats

Tengdin, Phoebe, Gentry, Christian, Blonsky, Adam, Zusin, Dmitriy, Gerrity, Michael, Hellbrück, Lukas, Hofherr, Moritz, Shaw, Justin, Kvashnin, Yaroslav, Delczeg-Czirjak, Erna K., Arora, Monika, Nembach, Hans, Silva, Tom J., Mathias, Stefan, Aeschlimann, Martin, Kapteyn, Henry C., Thonig, Danny, Koumpouras, Konstantinos, Eriksson, Olle, and Murnane, Margaret M. Direct light–induced spin transfer between different elements in a spintronic Heusler material via femtosecond laser excitation. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz1100.
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Tengdin, Phoebe, Gentry, Christian, Blonsky, Adam, Zusin, Dmitriy, Gerrity, Michael, Hellbrück, Lukas, Hofherr, Moritz, Shaw, Justin, Kvashnin, Yaroslav, Delczeg-Czirjak, Erna K., Arora, Monika, Nembach, Hans, Silva, Tom J., Mathias, Stefan, Aeschlimann, Martin, Kapteyn, Henry C., Thonig, Danny, Koumpouras, Konstantinos, Eriksson, Olle, & Murnane, Margaret M. Direct light–induced spin transfer between different elements in a spintronic Heusler material via femtosecond laser excitation. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz1100
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Tengdin, Phoebe, Gentry, Christian, Blonsky, Adam, Zusin, Dmitriy, Gerrity, Michael, Hellbrück, Lukas, Hofherr, Moritz, Shaw, Justin, Kvashnin, Yaroslav, Delczeg-Czirjak, Erna K., Arora, Monika, Nembach, Hans, Silva, Tom J., Mathias, Stefan, Aeschlimann, Martin, Kapteyn, Henry C., Thonig, Danny, Koumpouras, Konstantinos, Eriksson, Olle, and Murnane, Margaret M. Fri . "Direct light–induced spin transfer between different elements in a spintronic Heusler material via femtosecond laser excitation". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz1100. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1626056.
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@article{osti_1626056,
title = {Direct light–induced spin transfer between different elements in a spintronic Heusler material via femtosecond laser excitation},
author = {Tengdin, Phoebe and Gentry, Christian and Blonsky, Adam and Zusin, Dmitriy and Gerrity, Michael and Hellbrück, Lukas and Hofherr, Moritz and Shaw, Justin and Kvashnin, Yaroslav and Delczeg-Czirjak, Erna K. and Arora, Monika and Nembach, Hans and Silva, Tom J. and Mathias, Stefan and Aeschlimann, Martin and Kapteyn, Henry C. and Thonig, Danny and Koumpouras, Konstantinos and Eriksson, Olle and Murnane, Margaret M.},
abstractNote = {Heusler compounds are exciting materials for future spintronics applications because they display a wide range of tunable electronic and magnetic interactions. Here, we use a femtosecond laser to directly transfer spin polarization from one element to another in a half-metallic Heusler material, Co2MnGe. This spin transfer initiates as soon as light is incident on the material, demonstrating spatial transfer of angular momentum between neighboring atomic sites on time scales < 10 fs. Using ultrafast high harmonic pulses to simultaneously and independently probe the magnetic state of two elements during laser excitation, we find that the magnetization of Co is enhanced, while that of Mn rapidly quenches. Density functional theory calculations show that the optical excitation directly transfers spin from one magnetic sublattice to another through preferred spin-polarized excitation pathways. This direct manipulation of spins via light provides a path toward spintronic devices that can operate on few-femtosecond or faster time scales.},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aaz1100},
journal = {Science Advances},
number = 3,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jan 17 00:00:00 EST 2020},
month = {Fri Jan 17 00:00:00 EST 2020}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz1100
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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1. Fig. 1.: Direct light–induced spin transfer in Co2MnGe. (A) Representation of spin dynamics in Co2MnGe. Before excitation, Mn atoms (orange arrows) have a 3x larger magnetic moment than Co atoms (blue arrows), which are 2x more abundant in the bcc lattice. The purple arrow represents the net magnetic moment ofmore » the compound. Immediately upon excitation by light (within a few femtoseconds), the Mn moment starts to decrease and the Co magnetic moment grows by 10%. Hundreds of femtoseconds later, the Mn and Co atomic spins become disordered, and the angular momentum begins to transfer to the lattice. After 1 to 2 ps, the spins have reached their maximum quenching. (B) Schematic of the experimental setup. Ultrafast femtosecond laser pulses excite the sample, while the element-specific magnetization dynamics are tracked using femtosecond EUV pulses. IR, infrared. (C) Density of states for each element in the half-metal. Note that the minority spin channel is gapped, with no available states at the Fermi level for the minority channel. Critically, this gap is larger for Mn than for Co. After excitation (dominated by transitions from the Mn majority states, marked by a red arrow), the conduction band states are hybridized, as illustrated by the shared red wave function.« less
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Ultrafast element-resolved magneto-optics using a fiber-laser-driven extreme ultraviolet light source
    journal, June 2021

    • Möller, Christina; Probst, Henrike; Otto, Johannes
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    All-optical non-linear chiral ultrafast magnetization dynamics driven by circularly polarized magnetic fields
    preprint, January 2022

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