No Arabic abstract
The magnetization orientation of a nanoscale ferromagnet can be manipulated using an electric current via the spin transfer effect. Time domain measurements of nanopillar devices at low temperatures have directly shown that magnetization dynamics and reversal occur coherently over a timescale of nanoseconds. By adjusting the shape of a spin torque waveform over a timescale comparable to the free precession period (100-400 ps), control of the magnetization dynamics in nanopillar devices should be possible. Here we report coherent control of the free layer magnetization in nanopillar devices using a pair of current pulses as narrow as 30 ps with adjustable amplitudes and delay. We show that the switching probability can be tuned over a broad range by timing the current pulses with the underlying free-precession orbits, and that the magnetization evolution remains coherent for more than 1 ns even at room temperature. Furthermore, we can selectively induce transitions along free-precession orbits and thereby manipulate the free magnetic moment motion. We expect this technique will be adopted for further elucidating the dynamics and dissipation processes in nanomagnets, and will provide an alternative for spin torque driven spintronic devices, such as resonantly pumping microwave oscillators, and ultimately, for efficient reversal of memory bits in magnetic random access memory (MRAM).
Coherent optical control schemes exploit the coherence of laser pulses to change the phases of interfering dynamical pathways in order to manipulate dynamical processes. These active control methods are closely related to dynamical decoupling techniques, popularized in the field of Quantum Information. Inspired by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, dynamical decoupling methods apply sequences of unitary operations to modify the interference phenomena responsible for the system dynamics thus also belonging to the general class of coherent control techniques. Here we review related developments in the fields of coherent optical control and dynamical decoupling, with emphasis on control of tunneling and decoherence in general model systems. Considering recent experimental breakthroughs in the demonstration of active control of a variety of systems, we anticipate that the reviewed coherent control scenarios and dynamical decoupling methods should raise significant experimental interest.
Spintronics had a widespread impact over the past decades due to transferring information by spin rather than electric currents. Its further development requires miniaturization and reduction of characteristic timescales of spin dynamics combining the sub-nanometer spatial and femtosecond temporal ranges. These demands shift the focus of interest towards the fundamental open question of the interaction of femtosecond spin current (SC) pulses with a ferromagnet (FM). The spatio-temporal properties of the impulsive spin transfer torque exerted by ultrashort SC pulses on the FM open the time domain for probing non-uniform magnetization dynamics. Here we employ laser-generated ultrashort SC pulses for driving ultrafast spin dynamics in FM and analyzing its transient local source. Transverse spins injected into FM excite inhomogeneous high-frequency spin dynamics up to 0.6 THz, indicating that the perturbation of the FM magnetization is confined to 2 nm.
We present a complete theory of the spin torque phenomena in a ultrasmall nanomagnet coupled to non-collinear ferromagnetic electrodes through tunnelling junctions. This model system can be described by a simple microscopic model which captures many physical effects characteristic of spintronics: tunneling magneto resistance, intrinsic and transport induced magnetic relaxation, current induced magnetization reversal and spin accumulation. Treating on the same footing the magnetic and transport degrees of freedom, we arrive at a closed equation for the time evolution of the magnetization. This equation is very close to the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation used in spin valves structures. We discuss how the presence of the Coulomb blockade phenomena and the discretization of the one-body spectrum gives some additional features to the current induced spin torque. Depending on the regime, the dynamic induced by the coupling to electrode can be viewed either as a spin torque or as a relaxation process. In addition to the possibility of stabilizing uniform spin precession states, we find that the system is highly hysteretic: up to three different magnetic states can be simultaneously stable in one region of the parameter space (magnetic field and bias voltage).We also discuss how the magneto-resistance can be used to provide additional information on the non-equilibrium peaks present in the nanomagnet spectroscopy experiments.
The quasi-static strain (QSS) is the product generated by the lattice thermal expansion after ultrafast photo-excitation and the effects of thermal and QSS are inextricable. Nevertheless, the two phenomena with the same relaxation timescale should be treated separately because of their different fundamental actions to the ultrafast spin dynamics. By employing ultrafast Sagnac interferometry and magneto-optical Kerr effect, we quantitatively prove the existence of QSS, which has been disregarded, and decouple two effects counter-acting each other. Through the magnetoelastic energy analysis, rather we show that QSS in ferromagnets plays a governing role on ultrafast spin dynamics, which is opposite to what have been known on the basis of thermal effect. Our demonstration provides an essential way of analysis on ultrafast photo-induced phenomena.
We report the detection of a magnetic resonance mode in multiferroic Ba0.6Sr1.4Zn2Fe12O22 using time domain pump-probe reflectance spectroscopy. Magnetic sublattice precession is coherently excited via picosecond thermal modification of the exchange energy. Importantly, this precession is recorded as a change in reflectance caused by the dynamic magnetoelectric effect. Thus, transient reflectance provides a sensitive probe of magnetization dynamics in materials with strong magnetoelectric coupling, such as multiferroics, revealing new possibilities for application in spintronics and ultrafast manipulation of magnetic moments.