Ultrafast single-pulse all-optical switching in synthetic ferrimagnetic Tb/Co/Gd multilayers

Abstract

In this work, we investigate single-shot all-optical switching (AOS) in Tb/Co/Gd/Co/Tb multilayers in an attempt to establish AOS in synthetic ferrimagnets with high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. In particular, we study the effect of varying Tb thicknesses to disentangle the role of the two rare-earth elements. Even though the role of magnetic compensation has been considered to be crucial, we find that the threshold fluence for switching is largely independent of the Tb content. Moreover, we identify the timescale for the magnetization to cross zero to be approximately within the first ps after laser excitation using time-resolved magneto–optic Kerr effect. We conclude that the switching is governed mostly by interactions between Co and Gd.