Universal Criteria for Single Femtosecond Pulse Ultrafast Magnetization Switching in Ferrimagnets.

Single-pulse switching has been experimentally demonstrated in ferrimagnetic GdFeCo and Mn_{2}Ru_{x}Ga alloys. Complete understanding of single-pulse switching is missing due to the lack of an established theory accurately describing the transition to the nonequilibrium reversal path induced by femtosecond laser photoexcitation. In this work, we present general macroscopic theory for the magnetization dynamics of ferrimagnetic materials upon femtosecond laser excitation. Our theory reproduces quantitatively all stages of the switching process observed in experiments. We directly compare our theory to computer simulations using atomistic spin dynamics methods for both GdFeCo and Mn_{2}Ru_{x}Ga alloys. We provide explicit expressions for the magnetization relaxation rates in terms of microscopic parameters, which allows us to propose universal criteria for switching in ferrimagnets.

Two-magnon bound state causes ultrafast thermally induced magnetisation switching.

There has been much interest recently in the discovery of thermally induced magnetisation switching using femtosecond laser excitation, where a ferrimagnetic system can be switched deterministically without an applied magnetic field. Experimental results suggest that the reversal occurs due to intrinsic material properties, but so far the microscopic mechanism responsible for reversal has not been identified. Using computational and analytic methods we show that the switching is caused by the excitation of two-magnon bound states, the properties of which are dependent on material factors. This discovery allows us to accurately predict the onset of switching and the identification of this mechanism will allow new classes of materials to be identified or designed for memory devices in the THz regime.

Ultrafast heating as a sufficient stimulus for magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnet.

The question of how, and how fast, magnetization can be reversed is a topic of great practical interest for the manipulation and storage of magnetic information. It is generally accepted that magnetization reversal should be driven by a stimulus represented by time-non-invariant vectors such as a magnetic field, spin-polarized electric current, or cross-product of two oscillating electric fields. However, until now it has been generally assumed that heating alone, not represented as a vector at all, cannot result in a deterministic reversal of magnetization, although it may assist this process. Here we show numerically and demonstrate experimentally a novel mechanism of deterministic magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnet driven by an ultrafast heating of the medium resulting from the absorption of a sub-picosecond laser pulse without the presence of a magnetic field.

Ultrafast spin dynamics: the effect of colored noise.

Recent experimental results have pushed the limits of magnetization dynamics to pico- and femtosecond time scales. This ultrafast dynamics occurs in extreme conditions of strong and rapid fields and high temperatures. This situation requires a new description of magnetization dynamics, taking into account that the electron correlation time could be of the order of the inverse spin frequency. For this case we introduce a thermodynamically correct phenomenological Landau-Lifshitz-Miyasaki-Seki approach. We demonstrate the effect of the noise correlation time on the ultrafast demagnetization rate.