Speaker
Sangeeta SHARMA
(Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle (Saale))
Description
Laser pulses induce spin-selective charge flow that we show generates dramatic changes in the magnetic structure of materials, including a switching of magnetic order from anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) to transient ferromagnetic (FM) in multi-sub-lattice systems. The microscopic mechanism underpinning this ultra-fast switching of magnetic order is dominated by spin-selective charge transfer from one magnetic sub-lattice to another. As this spin modulation is purely optical in nature (i.e. not mediated indirectly via the spin-orbit interaction) this is one of the fastest means of manipulating spin by light. We further demonstrate this mechanism to be universally applicable to AFM, FM and ferri-magnets, in both multilayer and bulk geometry, and provide three rules that encapsulate early time magnetization dynamics of multi-sub-lattice systems.
Primary author
Sangeeta SHARMA
(Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle (Saale))
