Induced versus intrinsic magnetic moments in ultrafast magnetization dynamics

Unifying ultrafast magnetization dynamics.

We present a microscopic model that successfully explains the ultrafast equilibration of magnetic order in ferromagnetic metals at a time scale tau(M) of only a few hundred femtoseconds after pulsed laser excitation. It is found that tau(M) can be directly related to the so-called Gilbert damping factor sigma that describes damping of GHz precessional motion of the magnetization vector. Indepen...

Ultrafast laser induced local magnetization dynamics in Heusler compounds

The overarching goal of the field of femtomagnetism is to control, via laser light, the magnetic structure of matter on a femtosecond time scale. The temporal limits to the light-magnetism interaction are governed by the fact that the electron spin interacts indirectly with light, with current studies showing a laser induced global loss in the magnetic moment on a time scale of the order of a f...

Ultrafast magnetization dynamics in ferromagnetic materials

In recent magneto optical experiments (TR-MOKE) the timescale of laser induced demagnetization was found to be shorter than 0.5 ps. However, doubts have been raised if the measured signal reflects genuine loss of magnetic moment at all. Also, for these experiments no broadly accepted theory exists. Although a few models are able to fit the data, they generally have in common that they violate o...

Ultrafast magnetization dynamics of spintronic nanostructures.

The ultrafast (sub-nanosecond) magnetization dynamics of ferromagnetic thin films and elements that find application in spintronic devices is reviewed. The major advances in the understanding of magnetization dynamics in the two decades since the discovery of giant magnetoresistance and the prediction of spin-transfer torque are discussed, along with the plethora of new experimental techniques ...

Ultrafast all-optical control of the magnetization in magnetic dielectrics