Ultrafast Control of Magnetism

Researchers

• Marwan Deb
• Vincent Juvé
• Pascal Ruello
• Gwenaëlle Vaudel
• Mads Weber
• Nirina Randrianantoandro

Controlling the magnetization at the fastest speed and with the lowest energy is one of the hottest topics in modern magnetism. It requires a deep understanding of the interaction between spin, electron, and lattice and their response to an external stimulus. Our research aims to address new frontiers in this topic by exploring novel magnetic materials and using various types of ultrashort external stimuli, including femtosecond laser pulses, femtosecond hot-electron pulses, picosecond acoustic pulses, as well as electric field. The nanoscale physics resulting from the interaction of these functionalities with suitable magnetic materials allows us to exploit non-thermal excitation mechanisms based on photo- and opto-magnetic effects, magnetoelastic effects, spin-transfer torque, and magneto-electric coupling to induce several important phenomena, such as spin-waves and magnetic-field-free magnetization switching. We study this rich physics with the help of new experimental approaches enabling both static and time-resolved measurements with sub-picosecond resolution. This research at the interface between magneto-electrics, femto-magnetism, pico-magneto-acoustic, and femto-spintronics should advance the fundamental knowledge, with potential implications for technological applications.

Related papers

• [1] E. Hassanpour, Y. Zemp, Y. Tokunaga, Y. Taguchi, Y. Tokura, Th. Lottermoser, M. Fiebig, M. C. Weber, Magnetoelectric transfer of a domain pattern, Science, 377, 1109 (2022).

   

• [2] M. Deb*, E. Popova, H.-Y. Jaffrès, N. Keller, and M. Bargheer, Polarization-dependent subpicosecond demagnetization in iron garnets, Phys Rev B 106, 184416 (2022).

   

• [3] M. Deb*, E. Popova, H.-Y. Jaffrès, N. Keller, and M. Bargheer, Controlling High-Frequency Spin-Wave Dynamics Using Double-Pulse Laser Excitation, Physical Review Applied 18, 044001 (2022)

• [4] M. C. Weber, M. Guennou, D. M. Evans, C. Toulouse, A. Simonov, Y. Kholina, X. Ma, W. Ren, S. Cao, M. A. Carpenter, B. Dkhil, M. Fiebig & J. Kreisel, Emerging spin–phonon coupling through cross-talk of two magnetic sublattices, Nat. Comms, 13, 443 (2022).

•  

  [5] M. Deb*, P. Molho, B. Barbara, Magnetic damping of ferromagnetic and exchange resonance modes in a ferrimagnetic insulators, Phys Rev B 105, 014432 (2022).

   

• [6] M. Deb*, E. Popova, S. P Zeuschner, W Leitenberger, N. Keller, M Rӧssle, M. Bargheer, Ultrafast Control of Lattice Strain via Magnetic Circular Dichroism, Phys Rev B 103, 064301 (2021).

   

• [7] M. Deb*, E. Popova, S. P. Zeuschner, M. Hehn, N. Keller, S. Mangin, G. Malinowski, and M. Bargheer, Generation of spin waves via spin-phonon interaction in a buried dielectric thin film, Phys Rev B 103, 024411 (2021).

   

• [8] M. Deb*, E. Popova, M. Hehn, N. Keller, S. Petit-Watelot, M. Bargheer, S. Mangin, G. Malinowski, Damping of standing spin waves in bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet as seen via the time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect, Phys Rev Applied 12, 044006 (2019).

•  

  [9] M. Lejman, C. Paillard, V. Juvé, G. Vaudel, N. Guiblin, L. Bellaiche, M. Viret, V. E. Gusev, B. Dkhil, P. Ruello, Magnetoelastic and magnetoelectric couplings across the antiferromagnetic transition in multiferroic BiFeO₃, Phys Rev B 19, 104103 (2019).

•  

  [10] M. Deb*, E. Popova, M. Hehn, N. Keller, S. Petit-Watelot, M. Bargheer, S. Mangin, G. Malinowski, Femtosecond laser-excitation-driven high frequency standing spin waves in nanoscale dielectric thin films of iron Garnets, Phys Rev Lett 123, 1703474 (2019).

   

• [11] M. Deb*, E. Popova, M. Hehn, N. Keller, S. Mangin, G. Malinowski, “Picosecond acoustic-excitation-driven ultrafast magnetization dynamics in dielectric Bi-substituted yttrium iron garnet”, Phys Rev B, 98, 174407 (2018).

   

• [12] M. Deb*, P. Molho, B. Barbara, J.-Y. Bigot, “Controlling laser-induced magnetization reversal dynamics in a rare-earth iron garnet across the magnetization compensation point”, Phys Rev B, 97 134419 (2018).

Projects

• ANR ULTRAMAG
• UNCLOAK