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arXiv · 2210.11009

Laser-induced Creation of antiferromagnetic 180-degree domains in NiO/Pt bilayers

Hendrik Meer·Stephan Wust·Christin Schmitt·Paul Herrgen·Felix Fuhrmann·Steffen Hirtle·Beatrice Bednarz·Adithya Rajan·Rafael Ramos·Miguel Angel Niño·Michael Foerster·Florian Kronast·Armin Kleibert·Baerbel Rethfeld·Eiji Saitoh·Benjamin Stadtmüller·Martin Aeschlimann·Mathias Kläui
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Abstract

We demonstrate how the antiferromagnetic order in heterostructures of NiO/Pt thin films can be modified by optical pulses. We irradiate our samples with laser light and identify an optically induced creation of antiferromagnetic domains by imaging the created domain structure utilizing the X-ray magnetic linear dichroism effect. We study the effect of different laser polarizations on the domain formation and identify a polarization-independent creation of 180{\deg} domain walls and domains with 180{\deg} different N\'eel vector orientation. By varying the irradiation parameters, we determine the switching mechanism to be thermally induced and demonstrate the reversibility. We thus demonstrate experimentally the possibility to optically create antiferromagnetic domains, an important step towards future functionalization of all optical switching mechanisms in antiferromagnets.

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Hendrik Meer, Stephan Wust, Christin Schmitt, Paul Herrgen, Felix Fuhrmann, Steffen Hirtle, Beatrice Bednarz, Adithya Rajan, Rafael Ramos, Miguel Angel Niño, Michael Foerster, Florian Kronast, Armin Kleibert, Baerbel Rethfeld, Eiji Saitoh, Benjamin Stadtmüller, Martin Aeschlimann, Mathias Kläui. 2022-10-20. Laser-induced Creation of antiferromagnetic 180-degree domains in NiO/Pt bilayers. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202213536

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