Theory of Ultrafast Demagnetization after Femtosecond Laser Pulses

• Authors: M. Fähnle , Ch. Illg , M. Haag , N. Teeny
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Experimentally it has been found that a ferromagnetic metallic film is strongly demagnetized within few hundred fs after exposure to a fs laser pulse. The theories of this ultrafast demagnetization are reviewed, especially the influence of scatterings of the excited electrons at phonons and at magnons. The calculations for phonons and magnons are performed by the ab initio spin-density-functional electron theory for Ni and Fe, and they are based on Fermi's golden rule for transition rates. The application of this rule on the fs time scale is critically discussed in view of results from quantum-kinetic density-matrix calculations. It is shown that the experimentally observed demagnetization rates cannot be explained by spin-flip scatterings of electrons exclusively at phonons or exclusively at magnons. A combination of individual spin-flip electron-phonon and spin-flip electron-magnon processes is shown to be a potential candidate for the explanation of ultrafast demagnetization.

Keywords

EN

75.78.Jp; 75.30.Ds; 75.40.Gb

Discipline

• 75.30.Ds: Spin waves(for spin-wave resonance, see 76.50.+g)
• 75.40.Gb: Dynamic properties (dynamic susceptibility, spin waves, spin diffusion, dynamic scaling, etc.)
• 75.78.Jp: Ultrafast magnetization dynamics and switching(for switching phenomena in ferroelectrics, see 77.80.Fm; for ultrafast spectroscopy, see 78.47.J-; for ultrafast processes in optics, see 42.65.Re)

• Publisher: Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Acta Physica Polonica A
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 127
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 170-175

Dates

published

2015-02

Contributors

author

M. Fähnle

• Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstr. 3, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany

author

Ch. Illg

• Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstr. 3, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany

author

M. Haag

• Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstr. 3, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany

author

N. Teeny

• Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstr. 3, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany

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Identifiers

DOI

10.12693/APhysPolA.127.170