Ultrafast spin-transfer torque driven by femtosecond pulsed-laser excitation

A. J. Schellekens (), K. C. Kuiper, R.R.J.C. de Wit and B Koopmans
Additional contact information
A. J. Schellekens: Center for NanoMaterials (cNM), Eindhoven University of Technology
K. C. Kuiper: Center for NanoMaterials (cNM), Eindhoven University of Technology
R.R.J.C. de Wit: Center for NanoMaterials (cNM), Eindhoven University of Technology
B Koopmans: Center for NanoMaterials (cNM), Eindhoven University of Technology

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Spin currents have an important role in many proposed spintronic devices, as they govern the switching process of magnetic bits in random access memories or drive domain wall motion in magnetic shift registers. The generation of these spin currents has to be fast and energy efficient for realization of these envisioned devices. Recently it has been shown that femtosecond pulsed-laser excitation of thin magnetic films creates intense and ultrafast spin currents. Here we utilize this method to change the orientation of the magnetization in a magnetic bilayer by spin-transfer torque on sub-picosecond timescales. By analysing the dynamics of the magnetic bilayer after laser excitation, the rich physics governing ultrafast spin-transfer torque are elucidated opening up new pathways to ultrafast magnetization reversal, but also providing a new method to quantify optically induced spin currents generated on femtosecond timescales.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5333 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5333

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5333

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().