Using ultrashort optical pulses to couple ferroelectric and ferromagnetic order in an oxide heterostructure

Y. M. Sheu (), S. A. Trugman, L. Yan, Q. X. Jia, A. J. Taylor and R. P. Prasankumar ()
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Y. M. Sheu: Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS K771, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
S. A. Trugman: Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS K771, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
L. Yan: Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS K771, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
Q. X. Jia: Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS K771, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
A. J. Taylor: Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS K771, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
R. P. Prasankumar: Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS K771, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract A new approach to all-optical detection and control of the coupling between electric and magnetic order on ultrafast timescales is achieved using time-resolved second-harmonic generation (SHG) to study a ferroelectric (FE)/ferromagnet (FM) oxide heterostructure. We use femtosecond optical pulses to modify the spin alignment in a Ba0.1Sr0.9TiO3 (BSTO)/La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (LCMO) heterostructure and selectively probe the ferroelectric response using SHG. In this heterostructure, the pump pulses photoexcite non-equilibrium quasiparticles in LCMO, which rapidly interact with phonons before undergoing spin–lattice relaxation on a timescale of tens of picoseconds. This reduces the spin–spin correlations in LCMO, applying stress on BSTO through magnetostriction. This then modifies the FE polarization through the piezoelectric effect, on a timescale much faster than laser-induced heat diffusion from LCMO to BSTO. We have thus demonstrated an ultrafast indirect magnetoelectric effect in a FE/FM heterostructure mediated through elastic coupling, with a timescale primarily governed by spin–lattice relaxation in the FM layer.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6832

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