Role of critical spin fluctuations in ultrafast demagnetization of transition-metal rare-earth alloys

Ultrafast magnetization dynamics induced by femtosecond laser pulses have been measured in ferrimagnetic Co0.8Gd0.2, Co.74Tb.26 and Co.86Tb.14 alloys. Using element sensitivity of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism at the Co L3, Tb M5 and Gd M5 edges we evidence that the demagnetization dynamics is element dependent. We show that a thermalization time as fast as 280 fs is observed for the rare-earth in the alloy, when the laser excited state temperature is below the compensation temperature. It is limited to 500 fs when the laser excited state temperature is below the Curie temperature (Tc). We propose critical spin fluctuations in the vicinity of TC as the mechanism which reduces the demagnetization rates of the 4f electrons in transition-metal rare-earth alloys whereas at any different temperature the limited demagnetization rates could be avoided.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Structural dynamics during laser induced ultrafast demagnetization

The mechanism underlying femtosecond laser pulse induced ultrafast magnetization dynamics remains elusive despite two decades of intense research on this phenomenon. Most experiments focused so far on characterizing magnetization and charge carrier dynamics, while first direct measurements of structural dynamics during ultrafast demagnetization were reported only very recently. We here present our investigation of the infrared laser pulse induced ultrafast demagnetization process in a thin Ni film, which characterizes simultaneously magnetization and structural dynamics. This is achieved by employing femtosecond time resolved X-ray resonant magnetic reflectivity (tr-XRMR) as probe technique. The experimental results reveal unambiguously that the sub-picosecond magnetization quenching is accompanied by strong changes in non-magnetic X-ray reflectivity. These changes vary with reflection angle and changes up to 30$\%$ have been observed. Modeling the X-ray reflectivity of the investigated thin film, we can reproduce these changes by a variation of the apparent Ni layer thickness of up to 1$\%$. Extending these simulations to larger incidence angles we show that tr-XRMR can be employed to discriminate experimentally between currently discussed models describing the ultrafast demagnetization phenomenon

Element resolved ultrafast demagnetization rates in ferrimagnetic CoDy

Femtosecond laser induced ultrafast magnetization dynamics have been studied in multisublattice CoxDy1-x alloys. By performing element and time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy, we distinguish the ultrafast quenching of Co3d and Dy4f magnetic order when the initial temperatures are below (T=150K) or above (T=270K) the temperature of magnetic compensation (Tcomp). In accordance with former element-resolved investigations and theoretical calculations, we observe different dynamics for Co3d and Dy4f spins. In addition we observe that, for a given laser fluence, the demagnetization amplitudes and demagnetization times are not affected by the existence of a temperature of magnetic compensation. However, our experiment reveals a twofold increase of the ultrafast demagnetization rates for the Dy sublattice at low temperature. In parallel, we measure a constant demagnetization rate of the Co3d sublattice above and below Tcomp. This intriguing difference between the Dy4f and Co3d sublattices calls for further theoretical and experimental investigations.Comment: 6 Figure, 2 Table

Hard Photodisintegration of a Proton Pair

We present a study of high energy photodisintegration of proton-pairs through the γ + 3He → p + p + n channel. Photon energies, Eγ , from 0.8 to 4.7 GeV were used in kinematics corresponding to a proton pair with high relative momentum and a neutron nearly at rest. The s−11 scaling of the cross section, as predicted by the constituent counting rule for two nucleon photodisintegration, was observed for the first time. The onset of the scaling is at a higher energy and the cross section is significantly lower than for deuteron (pn pair) photodisintegration. For Eγ below the scaling region, the scaled cross section was found to present a strong energy-dependent structure not observed in deuteron photodisintegration

Moments of the Neutron \u3cem\u3eg\u3c/em\u3e\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e Structure Function at Intermediate \u3cem\u3eQ\u3c/em\u3e\u3csup\u3e2\u3c/sup\u3e

We present new experimental results for the 3He spin structure function g2 in the resonance region at Q2 values between 1.2 and 3.0(GeV/c)2. Spin dependent moments of the neutron were extracted. Our main result, the inelastic contribution to the neutron d2 matrix element, was found to be small at ⟨Q2⟩=2.4(GeV/c)2 and in agreement with the lattice QCD calculation. The Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule for 3He and the neutron was tested with the measured data and using the Wandzura-Wilczek relation for the low x unmeasured region

Rosenbluth Separation of the π0 Electroproduction Cross Section Off the Neutron

We report the first longitudinal-transverse separation of the deeply virtual exclusive π0 electroproduction cross section off the neutron and coherent deuteron. The corresponding four structure functions dσL/dt, dσT/dt, dσLT/dt, and dσTT/dt are extracted as a function of the momentum transfer to the recoil system at Q2 = 1.75 GeV2 and xB = 0.36. The ed -\u3e edπ0 cross sections are found compatible with the small values expected from theoretical models. The en -\u3e enπ0 cross sections show a dominance from the response to transversely polarized photons, and are in good agreement with calculations based on the transversity generalized parton distributions of the nucleon. By combining these results with previous measurements of π0 electroproduction off the proton, we present a flavor decomposition of the u and d quark contributions to the cross section

A Glimpse of Gluons Through Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering on the Proton

The internal structure of nucleons (protons and neutrons) remains one of the greatest outstanding problems in modern nuclear physics. By scattering high-energy electrons off a proton we are able to resolve its fundamental constituents and probe their momenta and positions. Here we investigate the dynamics of quarks and gluons inside nucleons using deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS)-a highly virtual photon scatters off the proton, which subsequently radiates a photon. DVCS interferes with the Bethe-Heitler (BH) process, where the photon is emitted by the electron rather than the proton. We report herein the full determination of the BH-DVCS interference by exploiting the distinct energy dependences of the DVCS and BH amplitudes. In the regime where the scattering is expected to occur off a single quark, measurements show an intriguing sensitivity to gluons, the carriers of the strong interaction

Precision Measurement of the Proton and Deuteron Spin Structure Functions g\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e and Asymmetries A\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e

We have measured the spin struction functions g2(p) and g(2)(d) and the virtual photon asymmetries A(2)(p) and A(2)(d) over the kinetmatic range 0.02 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 0.8 and 0.7 less than or equal to Q2 less than or equal to 20 GeV2 by scattering 29.1 and 32.3 GeV longitudinally polarized electrons from transversely polarized NH3 and (LiD)-Li-6 targets. Our measured g2 approximately follows the twist-2 Wandzura-Wilczek calculation. The twist-3 reduced matrix elements d(2)(p) and d(2)(n) are less than two standard deviations from zero. The data are inconsistent with the Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule if there is no pathological behavior as x --\u3e 0. The Efremov-Leader-Teryaev integral is consistent with zero within our measured kinematic range. The absolute value of A2 is significantly smaller than the A2 \u3c √ R(1 +A1)/2 limit

Scaling study of the pion electroproduction cross sections and the pion form factor

The $^{1}$H($e,e^\prime \pi^+$)n cross section was measured for a range of four-momentum transfer up to $Q^2$=3.91 GeV$^2$ at values of the invariant mass, $W$, above the resonance region. The $Q^2$-dependence of the longitudinal component is consistent with the $Q^2$-scaling prediction for hard exclusive processes. This suggests that perturbative QCD concepts are applicable at rather low values of $Q^2$. Pion form factor results, while consistent with the $Q^2$-scaling prediction, are inconsistent in magnitude with perturbative QCD calculations. The extraction of Generalized Parton Distributions from hard exclusive processes assumes the dominance of the longitudinal term. However, transverse contributions to the cross section are still significant at $Q^2$=3.91 GeV$^2$.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure