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Unifying femtosecond and picosecond single-pulse magnetic switching in GdFeCo
- Source :
- Physical Review B, vol 103, iss 10, Physical Review B, Physical Review B, American Physical Society, 2021, 103, ⟨10.1103/physrevb.103.104422⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- American Physical Society, 2021.
-
Abstract
- International audience; Many questions are still open regarding the physical mechanisms behind the magnetic switching in Gd-Fe-Co alloys by single optical pulses. Phenomenological models suggest a femtosecond scale exchange relaxation between sublattice magnetization as the driving mechanism for switching. The recent observation of thermally induced switching in Gd-Fe-Co by using both several picosecond optical laser pulse as well as electric current pulses has questioned this previous understanding. This has raised the question of whether or not the same switching mechanics are acting at the femtosecond and picosecond scales. In this work, we aim at filling this gap in the understanding of the switching mechanisms behind thermal single-pulse switching. To that end, we have studied experimentally thermal single-pulse switching in Gd-Fe-Co alloys, for a wide range of system parameters, such as composition, laser power, and pulse duration. We provide a quantitative description of the switching dynamics using atomistic spin dynamics methods with excellent agreement between the model and our experiments across a wide range of parameters and timescales, ranging from femtoseconds to picoseconds. Furthermore, we find distinct element-specific damping parameters as a key ingredient for switching with long picosecond pulses and argue that switching with pulse durations as long as 15 ps is possible due to a low damping constant of Gd. Our findings can be easily extended to speed up dynamics in other contexts where ferrimagnetic Gd-Fe-Co alloys have been already demonstrated to show fast and energy-efficient processes, e.g., domain-wall motion in a track and spin-orbit torque switching in spintronics devices.
- Subjects :
- Materials science
Fluids & Plasmas
FOS: Physical sciences
02 engineering and technology
01 natural sciences
law.invention
Engineering
law
0103 physical sciences
Laser power scaling
[PHYS.COND]Physics [physics]/Condensed Matter [cond-mat]
010306 general physics
Condensed Matter - Materials Science
Spintronics
business.industry
Relaxation (NMR)
Pulse duration
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
Laser
Pulse (physics)
Picosecond
Physical Sciences
Chemical Sciences
Femtosecond
Optoelectronics
0210 nano-technology
business
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 01631829, 24699950, and 24699969
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Physical Review B, vol 103, iss 10, Physical Review B, Physical Review B, American Physical Society, 2021, 103, ⟨10.1103/physrevb.103.104422⟩
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....7bcc49c6594fd033e00c08c3f4455726