Femtosecond single-shot imaging and control of a laser-induced first-order phase transition in HoFeO3
Open Access
- 5 May 2017
- journal article
- research article
- Published by IOP Publishing in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
- Vol. 29 (22), 224003
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648x/aa6b9b
Abstract
Excitation of antiferromagnetic HoFeO3 with a single 80 fs laser pulse triggers a first-order spin-reorientation phase transition. In the ultrafast kinetics of the transition one can distinguish the processes of impulsive excitation of spin precession, nucleation of the new domain and growth of the nuclei. The orientation of the spins in the nuclei is defined by the phase of the laser-induced coherent spin precession. The growth of the nuclei is further promoted by heating induced by the laser excitation. Hereby we demonstrate that in HoFeO3 coherent control of the spin precession allows an effective control of the route of the heat-induced first-order magnetic phase transition. The theoretical description of the excitation of the spin precession by linearly-polarized ultrashort laser pulses is developed with the sigma model. The analysis showed high sensitivity of the excited dynamics to the initial spin orientations with respect to the crystallographic axes of the material.Keywords
This publication has 23 references indexed in Scilit:
- Ultrafast nonthermal photo-magnetic recording in a transparent mediumNature, 2017
- An effective magnetic field from optically driven phononsNature Physics, 2016
- Nonlinear spin control by terahertz-driven anisotropy fieldsNature Photonics, 2016
- Control of the Ultrafast Photoinduced Magnetization across the Morin Transition inPhysical Review Letters, 2016
- Imaging Ultrafast Demagnetization Dynamics after a Spatially Localized Optical ExcitationPhysical Review Letters, 2014
- Nanoscale spin reversal by non-local angular momentum transfer following ultrafast laser excitation in ferrimagnetic GdFeCoNature Materials, 2013
- Coherent Control of the Route of an Ultrafast Magnetic Phase Transition via Low-Amplitude Spin PrecessionPhysical Review Letters, 2012
- Ultrafast heating as a sufficient stimulus for magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnetNature Communications, 2012
- Ultrafast non-thermal control of magnetization by instantaneous photomagnetic pulsesNature, 2005
- Ultrafast Spin Dynamics in Ferromagnetic NickelPhysical Review Letters, 1996