飞秒脉冲激光诱导超快自旋动力学研究进展

当前,由于自旋电子学器件的工作频率越来越高,磁性材料中超快自旋动力学的研究已经成为凝聚态物理领域的一大研究热点.同时,飞秒脉冲激光泵浦磁性材料导致的超快白旋动力学现象蕴含丰富的物理内涵,涉及到电子、声子和白旋在非平衡态下的量子多体相互作用等基本问题,从而开辟了磁学研究的一个新方向——飞秒磁学.基于此,系统综述了飞秒脉冲...     

TbFeCo磁光薄膜飞秒激光感应超快磁化动力学研究

利用时间分辨磁光克尔光谱技术,研究TbFeCo磁光薄膜飞秒激光感应超快磁化动力学过程。观测到亚皮秒的超快退磁过程,符合"三温度"模型中由电子-自旋散射引起的超快退磁机制。磁化动力学的激发功率流密度依赖关系结果表明,随着激发功率流密度的增大,超快退磁程度增加和磁化恢复时间延长,符合"三温度"模型的解释。在衬底厚度不同的TbFeCo样品对比实验中发现,同功率流密度激发下衬底较薄的样品退磁程度更高,磁化恢复速率更快。     

超高记录密度GdFeCo磁光材料超高速磁存储技术的研究进展

稀土-过渡金属GdFeCo磁光材料由于具有亚铁磁特性,在超快飞秒激光作用下有望实现超高记录密度、超高记录速度的磁存储技术。详细介绍了在飞秒激光作用下,超高记录密度GdFeCo磁光材料应用于超高速磁存储技术的最新研究进展,具体包括飞秒激光辅助跨越磁化补偿点磁化反转,飞秒圆偏振激光全光磁化反转和飞秒激光超快加热全光磁化反转存储技术。     

磁场内磁力显微镜观测技术

磁力显微镜观测是研究磁性材料强有力的手段之一,可以对磁性材料的磁畴结构进行直接的观测,利用磁力显微镜对磁记录媒体的研究更是目前研究人员关注的热点之一。本文介绍了目前非常先进的磁场内磁力显微镜观测技术对垂直磁记录媒体的研究。将磁力显微镜和可变化的磁场相结合,这样就可以观察到磁性材料在磁场内的磁结构的在线变化,从而得到磁性材料更多的信息。例如：利用该技术对垂直记录媒体进行研究可以对垂直记录媒体的磁化反转场分布进行测量,从而得到磁化反转场分布地图;利用磁化反转场地图技术可以对媒体的其它性能进行更深入的研究,包括磁化反转机制,激活体积的测量以及媒体噪音和媒体磁化反转场的关系等等。     

无极（NP）磁粉性能与制备

无极（ＮＰ）磁粉性能与制备李文融，屠德容（化工部天津化工研究院）磁记录材料的制备是一项比较高级的现代技术，这门技术不单要求对磁性材料的磁化机制作较深入的物理学研究，更由于磁性材料的特性很大程度是取决于化工工艺过程所决定的自身形貌和尺寸，因此亦有必要对...     

纳米复合永磁多层膜的研究现状

纳米复合永磁材料由于其潜在的优异磁性能和商业价值,成为当今磁性材料领域的研究热点.就近几年来纳米复合永磁多层膜的发展状况,简要介绍了其制备技术、交换耦合作用、反磁化以及各向异性的研究.     

自蔓延高温合成铁氧体的研究现状与进展

简要介绍了铁氧体磁性材料应用现状及其进展,并重点介绍了铁氧体磁性材料的自蔓延高温合成技术.自蔓延高温合成作为新兴的材料合成技术在铁氧体合成方面具有巨大潜力,文章结合SHS技术的特性进行了分析,指出了材料合成过程中的主要过程机理,并结合实验给出了SHS技术在铁氧体合成领域中应用与研究的技术关键与最新的发展动向.     

飞秒激光诱导金属功能微结构研究进展

阐述了飞秒激光与金属相互作用的机理和动力学过程,介绍了飞秒激光特有的精密加工特性,归纳了飞秒激光诱导金属微结构的研究进展.     

磁性传感材料与器件研究进展

磁性材料是一种既古老又新颖的功能材料,磁性材料本身具有诸多特殊性质,正是基于此类特性,磁性材料可以完成外界物理量与磁信号之间的相互转换,由此制成各种类型的磁性传感器.随着传感器向着智能化、微型化、多功能化、高灵敏度、低功耗、高可靠性发展,新型磁性传感器种类也迅速增加,应用场景愈加广阔.然而,由于人类对磁信号的探测及处理远不如电学信号成熟,磁性传感器的应用仍有诸多问题尚未解决.材料的研究者们更关注新磁学现象,而能成功应用于传感器的磁性材料除了其特有的磁敏特性外,还应根据其具体应用场景提高它的其他物理性能,而传感器的研究者们在解决传感器微型化、高灵敏度等问题时并不会优先从材料角度考虑问题,导致某一类磁性材料从发现到其成熟应用于传感器所经历的周期过长,而很多已发现的磁性材料并未找到合适的应用场景.从材料角度而言,目前在传感器领域应用最多的是磁电阻材料,其广泛应用于位移传感器、角速度传感器、硬盘磁头、非接触电流测量等领域.其他研究较成熟的磁性材料如软磁材料、磁致伸缩材料、磁电复合材料、磁流体材料等在传感器领域也有一定的应用,如力学传感器、生物传感器、光学传感器等.为了使磁性传感器有广泛的应用,磁性材料及磁性传感器的研究者们应从应用角度出发,根据不同应用场景,提出更为全面具体的材料性能要求,以此为目标,对现有的磁性材料进行改性处理,或研发新型磁性材料,加快磁性材料及磁性传感器领域的发展.本文综述了多种磁性材料(包括磁电阻材料、高磁导率软磁材料、巨磁阻抗材料、磁致伸缩材料、磁光材料、磁电复合材料、磁流体材料等)在磁场探测、光学传感、力学传感、生物传感、电流传感等方面的应用以及研究进展,并从应用的角度出发,展望了未来磁性材料及磁性传感器的发展前景,以期为新型磁性传感器的制造及应用提供参考.     

多相陶瓷材料性能规律的研究

引入等效退极化场和等效退磁化场的概念,推导出了宏观均匀且各向同性的多相混合材料的性能计算式。将其应用于陶瓷介电材料(两相)、铁氧体磁性材料(两相)和混合介电——磁性材料(三相)(其中气孔均视为相)的研究中,得到了理论与实验相吻合的结果。该式在应用上比加和法更为准确、方便。     

Ultrafast nanomagnets: seeing data storage in a new light

Magnetic materials provide the most important form of erasable data storage for information technology today. The demand for increased storage capacity has caused bit sizes and features of the read-write transducers to be reduced to the nanoscale. However, increased storage capacity is only useful if there is a commensurate reduction in the time taken to read and write the data. In this article, the basic principles that determine the behaviour of nanomagnetic materials are introduced and their use in data-storage systems is described. Particular attention is paid to processes that limit the speed of operation of the data-storage system. It is shown that optical pump-probe experiments may be used to characterize dynamic magnetic processes with femtosecond temporal resolution. The macroscopic magnetization of a ferromagnet can be made to precess in response to an optically triggered magnetic field pulse, leading to reduced switching times. Alternatively, an ultrashort laser pulse may be used to manipulate the magnitude of the magnetization on femtosecond time-scales, leading to an ultrafast demagnetization in certain ferromagnets, and providing new insight into magnetotransport phenomena. Finally, the outlook for increased record and replay rates is assessed and the prospect of further use of optical techniques within magnetic data-storage technology is discussed.     

Ultrafast Dynamics of BiFeO3 Thin Films Studied by Dual-Color Femtosecond Spectroscopy

The ultrafast dynamics in (100)-oriented BiFeO₃ thin films were studied from 20 K to 300 K by using the dual-color femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy, which were performed by the 400 nm (3.1 eV) pump pulses above the energy gap of 2.67 eV and the 800 nm (1.55 eV) probe pulses below the energy gap of 2.67 eV. From the temperature-dependent transient reflectivity changes (??R/R), the anomalous changes were clearly observed below 200 K caused by magnons. Thus, the femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy could unambiguously reveal the magnetization dynamics in BiFeO₃ with strong magnetoelectric coupling.     

Femtosecond modification of electron localization and transfer of angular momentum in nickel

The rapidly increasing information density required of modern magnetic data storage devices raises the question of the fundamental limits in bit size and writing speed. At present, the magnetization reversal of a bit can occur as quickly as 200 ps (ref. 1). A fundamental limit has been explored by using intense magnetic-field pulses of 2 ps duration leading to a non-deterministic magnetization reversal. For this process, dissipation of spin angular momentum to other degrees of freedom on an ultrafast timescale is crucial. An even faster regime down to 100 fs or below might be reached by non-thermal control of magnetization with femtosecond laser radiation. Here, we show that an efficient novel channel for angular momentum dissipation to the lattice can be opened by femtosecond laser excitation of a ferromagnet. For the first time, the quenching of spin angular momentum and its transfer to the lattice with a time constant of 120+/-70 fs is determined unambiguously with X-ray magnetic circular dichroism. We report the first femtosecond time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy data over an entire absorption edge, which are consistent with an unexpected increase in valence-electron localization during the first 120+/-50 fs, possibly providing the driving force behind femtosecond spin-lattice relaxation.     

Ultrafast exciton fine structure relaxation dynamics in lead chalcogenide nanocrystals

The rates of fine structure relaxation in PbS, PbSe, and PbTe nanocrystals were measured on a femtosecond time scale as a function of temperature with no applied magnetic field by cross-polarized transient grating spectroscopy (CPTG) and circularly polarized pump-probe spectroscopy. The relaxation rates among exciton fine structure states follow trends with nanocrystal composition and size that are consistent with the expected influence of material dependent spin-orbit coupling, confinement enhanced electron-hole exchange interaction, and splitting between L valleys that are degenerate in the bulk. The size dependence of the fine structure relaxation rate is considerably different from what is observed for small CdSe nanocrystals, which appears to result from the unique material properties of the highly confined lead chalcogenide quantum dots. Modeling and qualitative considerations lead to conclusions about the fine structure of the lowest exciton absorption band, which has a potentially significant bearing on photophysical processes that make these materials attractive for practical purposes.     

Ultrafast Magnetization Manipulation Using Single Femtosecond Light and Hot‐Electron Pulses

Current‐induced magnetization manipulation is a key issue for spintronic applications. This manipulation must be fast, deterministic, and nondestructive in order to function in device applications. Therefore, single‐ electronic‐pulse‐driven deterministic switching of the magnetization on the picosecond timescale represents a major step toward future developments of ultrafast spintronic systems. Here, the ultrafast magnetization dynamics in engineered Gd_x [FeCo]_1?x ‐based structures are studied to compare the effect of femtosecond laser and hot‐electron pulses. It is demonstrated that a single femtosecond hot‐electron pulse causes deterministic magnetization reversal in either Gd‐rich and FeCo‐rich alloys similarly to a femtosecond laser pulse. In addition, it is shown that the limiting factor of such manipulation for perpendicular magnetized films arises from the formation of a multidomain state due to dipolar interactions. By performing time‐resolved measurements under various magnetic fields, it is demonstrated that the same magnetization dynamics are observed for both light and hot‐electron excitation, and that the full magnetization reversal takes place within 40 ps. The efficiency of the ultrafast current‐induced magnetization manipulation is enhanced due to the ballistic transport of hot electrons before reaching the GdFeCo magnetic layer.     

Femtosecond laser spectroscopy of spins: Magnetization dynamics in thin magnetic films with spatio-temporal resolution

Based on the Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect (MOKE), we have developed an experimental set-up that allows us to fully characterize the magnetization dynamics in thin magnetic films by measuring all three real space components of the magnetization vector M. By means of the pump-probe technique it is possible to extract the time dependence of each individual projection with sub-picosecond resolution. This method has been exploited to investigate the temporal evolution of the magnetization (modulus and orientation) induced by an ultrashort laser pulse in thin epitaxial iron films.According to our results, we deduced that the initial, sub-picosecond demagnetization is established at the electronic level through electron-magnon excitations. The subsequent dynamics is characterized by a precessional motion on the 100 ps time scale, around an effective, time-dependent magnetic field. Following the full dynamics of M, the temporal evolution of the magneto-crystalline anisotropy constant can be unambiguously determined, providing the experimental evidence that the precession is triggered by the rapid, optically-induced misalignment between the magnetization vector and the effective magnetic field.These results suggest a possible pathway toward the ultrarapid switching of the magnetization.     

Magnetic vortex state stability, reversal and dynamics in restricted geometries

Magnetic vortices are typically the ground states in geometrically confined ferromagnets with small magnetocrystalline anisotropy. In this article I review static and dynamic properties of the magnetic vortex state in small particles with nanoscale thickness and sub-micron and micron lateral sizes (magnetic dots). Magnetic dots made of soft magnetic material shaped as flat circular and elliptic cylinders are considered. Such mesoscopic dots undergo magnetization reversal through successive nucleation, displacement and annihilation of magnetic vortices. The reversal process depends on the stability of different possible zero-field magnetization configurations with respect to the dot geometrical parameters and application of an external magnetic field. The interdot magnetostatic interaction plays an important role in magnetization reversal for dot arrays with a small dot-to-dot distance, leading to decreases in the vortex nucleation and annihilation fields. Magnetic vortices reveal rich, non-trivial dynamical properties due to existance of the vortex core bearing topological charges. The vortex ground state magnetization distribution leads to a considerable modification of the nature of spin excitations in comparison to those in the uniformly magnetized state. A magnetic vortex confined in a magnetically soft ferromagnet with micron-sized lateral dimensions possesses a characteristic dynamic excitation known as a translational mode that corresponds to spiral-like precession of the vortex core around its equilibrium position. The translation motions of coupled vortices are considered. There are, above the vortex translation mode eigenfrequencies, several dynamic magnetization eigenmodes localized outside the vortex core whose frequencies are determined principally by dynamic demagnetizing fields appearing due to restricted dot geometry. The vortex excitation modes are classified as translation modes and radially or azimuthally symmetric spin waves over the vortex ground state. Studying the spin eigenmodes in such systems provides valuable information to relate the particle dynamical response to geometrical parameters. Unresolved problems are identified to attract attention of researchers working in the area of nanomagnetism.     

Influence of magnetic field on terahertz wave generation in photorefractive periodically poled lithium niobate crystal

By employing femtosecond pump-probe configuration, we successfully realized narrowband terahertz wave generation and detection in both photorefractive periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) and periodically poled Mg:LiNb(3) (PP-Mg:LN) crystal. Using an applied magnetic field, we achieved modulation of the terahertz wave in a photorefractive PPLN crystal. The terahertz wave depends strongly on the magnitude of the applied magnetic field in the photorefractive PPLN crystal. Terahertz wave independence of the magnetic field in PP-Mg:LN crystal was also identified. The interaction of the magnetic field and photorefractive PPLN crystal is believed to occur due to the Lorentz force, which results in the buildup of a space-charge field in a photorefractive PPLN crystal.     

Coupling of photoluminescent centers in ZnO to localized and propagating surface plasmons

The interaction of excitons and other photoluminescent centers in semiconductors with plasmons represents the coupling of the fundamental one-particle, electron-hole excitation with the fundamental many-particle excitation in metals. We describe recent photoluminescence and pump-probe experiments that illustrate both the energetics and the dynamics of this interaction, in a model material incorporating ZnO films separated from a nanostructured plasmonic metal substrate by a variable-thickness spacer layer. We find evidence for different coupling mechanisms for the band-edge exciton and donor-acceptor pair defect luminescence, and discuss the competing roles of localized surface-plasmon resonances and propagating surface-plasmon polaritons. We also present first femtosecond pump-probe lifetime measurements for the band-edge exciton with and without the presence of nearby metal nanostructures.     

Switching windows for a nanostructured cell of synthetic ferrimagnets

The magnetization switching window of nanostructured synthetic ferrimagnets with lateral dimension of 160 nm x 80 nm under combined in-plane magnetic fields along the longitudinal and transverse directions is investigated by numerical calculation using an analytical equation for the total energy. The considered total energy equation precisely accounts for the magnetostatic energy, which is significantly large in nanostructured magnetic cells. Due to the complex magnetization alignment of synthetic ferrimagnets, a different switching criterion based on the reversibility of magnetization process is used, instead of the simple criterion frequently used for single magnetic layers. Synthetic ferrimagnets with various thickness asymmetries are considered, and switching windows are calculated both in static and dynamic conditions. The static switching windows show a smaller dependence on the thickness asymmetry than the dynamic switching windows do. The dynamic switching window at a large thickness asymmetry resembles that of a single magnetic layer. The results are discussed in terms of energy profiles that can be obtained by locating the lowest energy path linking the two stable states from the total energy surface.