RESUMEN
The analysis of isolated spin-wave packets is crucial for the understanding of magnetic transport phenomena and is particularly interesting for applications in spintronic and magnonic devices, where isolated spin-wave packets implement an information processing scheme with negligible residual heat loss. We have captured microscale magnetization dynamics of single spin-wave packets in metallic ferromagnets in space and time. Using an optically driven high-current picosecond pulse source in combination with time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy probed by femtosecond laser pulses, we demonstrate phase-sensitive real-space observation of spin-wave packets in confined permalloy (Ni80Fe20) microstripes. Impulsive excitation permits extraction of the dynamical parameters, i.e. phase- and group velocities, frequencies and wave vectors. In addition to well-established Damon-Eshbach modes our study reveals waves with counterpropagating group- and phase-velocities. Such unusual spin-wave motion is expected for backward volume modes where the phase fronts approach the excitation volume rather than emerging out of it due to the negative slope of the dispersion relation. These modes are difficult to excite and observe directly but feature analogies to negative refractive index materials, thus enabling model studies of wave propagation inside metamaterials.
RESUMEN
Photofragmentation dynamics of molecular iodine was studied as a response to the joint illumination with femtosecond 800 nm near-infrared and 13 nm extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses delivered by the free-electron laser facility FLASH. The interaction of the molecular target with two light pulses of different wavelengths but comparable pulse energy elucidates a complex intertwined electronic and nuclear dynamics. To follow distinct pathways out of a multitude of reaction channels, the recoil of created ionic fragments is analyzed. The delayed XUV pulse provides a way of following molecular photodissociation of I(2) with a characteristic time-constant of (55 ± 10) fs after the laser-induced formation of antibonding states. A preceding XUV pulse, on the other hand, preferably creates a 4d(-1) inner-shell vacancy followed by the fast Auger cascade with a revealed characteristic time constant τ(A2)=(23±11) fs for the second Auger decay transition. Some fraction of molecular cationic states undergoes subsequent Coulomb explosion, and the evolution of the launched molecular wave packet on the repulsive Coulomb potential was accessed by the laser-induced postionization. A further unexpected photofragmentation channel, which relies on the collective action of XUV and laser fields, is attributed to a laser-promoted charge transfer transition in the exploding molecule.
