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Under laser illumination it is possible to drive a ferromagnet to lose its magnetization. While this process can be rapid, remagnetization following this is slower, due to the universal critical slowing down near the phase transition. Here, Remy et al show how such a slowing down can be overcome, changing the direction of magnetization in 400 femtoseconds.

When exciting a magnetic material with a femtosecond laser pulse, the amplitude of magnetization is no longer constant and can decrease within a time scale comparable to the duration of the optical excitation. This ultrafast demagnetization can even trigger an ultrafast, out of equilibrium, phase transition to a paramagnetic state. The reciprocal effect, namely an ultrafast remagnetization from the zero magnetization state, is a necessary ingredient to achieve a complete ultrafast reversal. However, the speed of remagnetization is limited by the universal critical slowing down which appears close to a phase transition. Here we demonstrate that magnetization can be reversed in a few hundreds of femtoseconds by overcoming the critical slowing down thanks to ultrafast spin cooling and spin heating mechanisms. We foresee that these results outline the potential of ultrafast spintronics for future ultrafast and energy efficient magnetic memory and storage devices. Furthermore, this should motivate further theoretical works in the field of femtosecond magnetization reversal. Under laser illumination it is possible to drive a ferromagnet to lose its magnetization. While this process can be rapid, remagnetization following this is slower, due to the universal critical slowing down near the phase transition. Here, Remy et al show how such a slowing down can be overcome, changing the direction of magnetization in 400 femtoseconds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]