Abstract-Terahertz excitation of spin dynamics in ferromagnetic thin films incorporated in metallic spintronic-THz-emitter

Applied Physics Letters

B. C. Choi, J. Rudge, K. Jordan,  T. Genet

https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.5143133

An experimental approach to trigger ultrafast spin dynamics at frequencies of the terahertz (THz) regime is explored by directly incorporating ferromagnetic Ni80Fe20 films to a Fe/Au spintronic-THz-emitter. It is found that Ni80Fe20 magnetization is directly coupled to the terahertz magnetic fields, in which the magnetic responses of Ni80Fe20 are phase-locked with terahertz pulses. High efficiency of metallic spintronic-terahertz emitters in driving terahertz-induced magnetization dynamics is observed; the maximum precession amplitude of the out-of-plane component of the Ni80Fe20 magnetization reaches over 10% of its saturation magnetization. Analytical integrations of THz magnetic field pulses reproduce the experimental results, confirming that the underlying mechanism of the observed spin dynamics is the Zeeman coupling between the terahertz magnetic field and magnetization in the Ni80Fe20 film. Our results open up possibilities for the studies of terahertz spin dynamics by integrating highly efficient low-cost metallic spintronic-THz-emitters into magnetic thin film elements.

The authors acknowledge funding from the NSERC (Canada) Discovery Grants program.

Abstract-Using ultrashort terahertz pulses to directly probe spin dynamics in insulating antiferromagnets

Pamela Bowlan, S A Trugman, Dzmitry Yarotski, Antoinette J Taylor, Rohit P Prasankuma

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6463/aab8da

Terahertz pulses are a direct and general probe of ultrafast spin dynamics in insulating antiferromagnets (AFM). This is shown by using optical-pump, THz-probe spectroscopy to directly track AFM spin dynamics in the hexagonal multiferroic HoMnO3 and the orthorhombic multiferroic TbMnO3. Our studies show that despite the different structural and spin orders in these materials, THz pulses can unambiguously resolve spin dynamics after optical photoexcitation. We believe that this approach is quite general and can be applied to a broad range of materials with different AFM spin alignments, providing a novel non-contact approach for probing AFM order with femtosecond temporal resolution.

Abstract-Quantum spin dynamics at terahertz frequencies in 2D hole gases and improper ferroelectrics

J. Lloyd-Hughes

http://spie.org/Publications/Proceedings/Paper/10.1117/12.2189209

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy permits the excitations of novel materials to be examined with exquisite precision. Improper ferroelectric materials such as cupric oxide (CuO) exhibit complex magnetic ground states. CuO is antiferromagnetic below 213K, but has an incommensurate cycloidal magnetic phase between 213K and 230K. Remarkably, the cycloidal magnetic phase drives ferroelectricity, where the material becomes polar. Such improper multiferroics are of great contemporary interest, as a better understanding of the science of magnetoelectric materials may lead to their application in actuators, sensors and solid state memories. Improper multiferroics also have novel quasiparticle excitations: electromagnons form when spin-waves become electric-dipole active. By examining the dynamic response of spins as they interact with THz radiation we gain insights into the underlying physics of multi-ferroics. In contrast to improper ferroelectrics, where magnetism drives structural inversion asymmetry (SIA), two-dimensional electronic systems can exhibit non-degenerate spin states as a consequence of SIA created by strain and/or electric fields. We identify and explore the influence of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction upon cyclotron resonance at terahertz frequencies in high-mobility 2D hole gases in germanium quantum wells. An enhanced Rashba spin-orbit interaction can be linked to the strain of the quantum well, while a time-frequency decomposition method permitted the dynamical formation and decay of spin-split cyclotron resonances to be tracked on picosecond timescales. Long spin-decoherence times concurrent with high hole mobilities highlight the potential of Ge quantum wells in spintronics.

Abstract-Enhanced spin-precession dynamics in a spin-metamaterial coupled resonator observed in terahertz time-domain measurements

T. Kurihara, K. Nakamura, K. Yamaguchi, Y. Sekine, Y. Saito, M. Nakajima, K. Oto, H. Watanabe, and T. Suemoto

https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.144408

We demonstrate enhancement of the spin precession of orthoferrite ErFeO3 using the magnetic near-field produced by a split-ring resonator (SRR), using the terahertz pump-optical Faraday probe measurement. The precession amplitude was enhanced by ∼8 times when the resonance frequency of spin precession was close to the magnetic resonance of SRR. The time evolution of spin precession was successfully reproduced by a coupled spin- and SRR-resonance model mediated by the magnetic near-field. It is suggested that optimization of the metamaterial structure would further increase the enhancement factor, leading to the nonlinear control of spin dynamics using terahertz radiation.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.144408

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