Laser-induced magnetization precession in the magnetite Fe3O4 in the vicinity of a spin-reorientation transition

I O Karpovsky,L A Shelukhin,A M Kalashnikova,D L Kazenwadel,R V Pisarev,A M Balbashov

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1400/7/077001

Abstract

Using time-resolved magneto-optical pump-probe technique we demonstrate excitation of magnetization precession in a single crystalline bulk magnetite Fe3O4 below and in the vicinity of the Verwey and spin-reorientation (SR) phase transitions. Pronounced temperature dependence of the precession amplitude is observed suggesting that the excitation occurs via laser-driven spin-reorientation transition. Similarity observed between the characteristic features of the laser-induced ultrafast SR and Verwey transitions suggests that they both rely on the same microscopic processes.

Highlights

Nowadays an active experimental and theoretical research in magnetism is focused on a search of effective ways to change a magnetic state of a matter at ultrafast timescales [1]
Using magneto-optical pump-probe technique we observed a laser-induced precession of magnetization at temperatures below transitions region (TSR), which is a typical signature of the laser-driven ultrafast SR transition
Having confirmed the presence of ultrafast laser-induced insulator-metal transition, we proceed to laser-induced magnetization dynamics

Summary

Introduction

Nowadays an active experimental and theoretical research in magnetism is focused on a search of effective ways to change a magnetic state of a matter at ultrafast timescales [1]. Using magneto-optical pump-probe technique we observed a laser-induced precession of magnetization at temperatures below TSR, which is a typical signature of the laser-driven ultrafast SR transition. In experiments pump pulses excite the dynamics of magnetization which is revealed by measuring polarization rotation Δθ of the linearly polarized probe pulses reflected from the samples as a function of the pump-probe time delay Δt.

Results

Conclusion