AVS 52nd International Symposium
    Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures Tuesday Sessions
       Session MI-TuA

Invited Paper MI-TuA1
All Optical Pump/Probe Spectroscopy from Coherent Spin Waves in Exchange Bias Systems

Tuesday, November 1, 2005, 2:00 pm, Room 204

Session: Magnetization Dynamics
Presenter: B. Beschoten, RWTH Aachen, Germany
Authors: B. Beschoten, RWTH Aachen, Germany
A. Tillmanns, RWTH Aachen, Germany
S. Oertker, RWTH Aachen, Germany
G. Guentherodt, RWTH Aachen, Germany
I.K. Schuller, UC San Diego
Correspondent: Click to Email
Time-resolved Kerr rotation is used to generate and to probe coherent spin waves in exchange biased ferro-/antiferromagnetic bilayer films of Fe/MnF@sub 2@. In time-resolved Kerr rotation, an ultrafast laser pump pulse generates an unidirectional anisotropy field pulse which triggers coherent precession of the magnetization in the ferromagnetic layer. This coherent precession can be monitored by a time-delayed laser probe pulse yielding a quantitative method to study local magnetic anisotropies, ultrafast switching and damping phenomena. This time-resolved all-optical technique is combined with static vector MOKE measurements, which allow to link static magnetization reversal processes, such as coherent rotation of the magnetization vector or domain wall nucleation and propagation, with the precessional switching dynamics at all magnetic fields during magnetization reversal. Work supported by DFG/SPP 1133 and by European Community's Human Potential Program/NEXBIAS. Work at UCSD supported by US-DOE and by AFOSR.