Magnetic domain fluctuations in an antiferromagnetic film observed with coherent resonant soft x-ray scattering

We report the direct observation of slow fluctuations of helical antiferromagnetic domains in an ultra-thin holmium film using coherent resonant magnetic x-ray scattering. We observe a gradual increase of the fluctuations in the speckle pattern with increasing temperature, while at the same time a static contribution to the speckle pattern remains. This finding indicates that domain-wall fluctuations occur over a large range of time scales. We ascribe this non-ergodic behavior to the strong dependence of the fluctuation rate on the local thickness of the film.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Direct observation of t2g orbital ordering in magnetite

Using soft-x-ray diffraction at the site-specific resonances in the Fe L23 edge, we find clear evidence for orbital and charge ordering in magnetite below the Verwey transition. The spectra show directly that the (001/2) diffraction peak (in cubic notation) is caused by t2g orbital ordering at octahedral Fe2+ sites and the (001) by a spatial modulation of the t2g occupation.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Analysis of charge and orbital order in Fe_{3}O_{4} by Fe L_{2,3} resonant x-ray diffraction

To elucidate charge and orbital order below the Verwey transition temperature TV∼125 K, a thin layer of magnetite partially detwined by growth on the stepped MgO(001) substrate has been studied by means of soft x-ray diffraction at the Fe L2,3 resonance. The azimuth angle, incident photon polarization, and energy dependence of the (0012)c and (001)c reflection intensities have been measured, and analyzed using a configuration-interaction FeO6 cluster model. The azimuth dependence of the (0012)c reflection intensities directly represents the space-group symmetry of the orbital order in the initial state rather than indirectly through the intermediate-state level shifts caused by the order-induced lattice distortions. From the analysis of the (0012)c reflection intensities, the orbital order in the t2g orbitals of B sites below TV is proved to have a large monoclinic deformation with the value of Re[Fxy]/Re[Fyz]∼2. This finding contradicts the majority of theories on the Verwey transition so far proposed. We show that the experimentally observed resonance spectra cannot be explained by orbital and charge orders obtained with recent LDA+U and GGA+U band structure calculations but by a complex- number orbital order with excellent agreement

Robust Magnetic Order Upon Ultrafast Excitation of an Antiferromagnet

The ultrafast manipulation of magnetic order due to optical excitation is governed by the intricate flow of energy and momentum between the electron, lattice, and spin subsystems. While various models are commonly employed to describe these dynamics, a prominent example being the microscopic three temperature model (M3TM), systematic, quantitative comparisons to both the dynamics of energy flow and magnetic order are scarce. Here, an M3TM was&nbsp;applied to the ultrafast magnetic order dynamics of the layered antiferromagnet GdRh2Si2. The femtosecond dynamics of electronic temperature, surface ferromagnetic order, and bulk antiferromagnetic order were&nbsp;explored at various pump fluences employing time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and time-resolved resonant magnetic soft X-ray diffraction, respectively. After optical excitation, both the surface ferromagnetic order and the bulk antiferromagnetic order dynamics exhibit two-step demagnetization behaviors with two similar timescales (<1 ps, ∼10 ps), indicating a strong exchange coupling between localized 4f and itinerant conduction electrons. Despite a good qualitative agreement, the M3TM predicts larger demagnetization than the experimental observation, which can be phenomenologically described by a transient, fluence-dependent increased Néel temperature. The results indicate that effects beyond a mean-field description have to be considered for a quantitative description of ultrafast magnetic order&nbsp;dynamics

Spectroscopy of stripe order in La1.8Sr0.2NiO4 using resonant soft x-ray diffraction

Strong resonant enhancements of the charge-order and spin-order superstructure-diffraction intensities in La1.8Sr0.2NiO4 are observed when x-ray energies in the vicinity of the Ni L2,3 absorption edges are used. The pronounced photon-energy and polarization dependences of these diffraction intensities allow for a critical determination of the local symmetry of the ordered spin and charge carriers. We found that not only the antiferromagnetic order but also the charge-order superstructure resides within the NiO2 layers; the holes are mainly located on in-plane oxygens surrounding a Ni2+ site with the spins coupled antiparallel in close analogy to Zhang-Rice singlets in the cuprates.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Accelerating the laser-induced demagnetization of a ferromagnetic film by antiferromagnetic order in an adjacent layer

We study the ultrafast demagnetization of Ni/NiMn and Co/NiMn ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic bilayer systems after excitation by a laser pulse. We probe the ferromagnetic order of Ni and Co using magnetic circular dichroism in time-resolved pump-probe resonant x-ray reflectivity. Tuning the sample temperature across the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature of the NiMn layer allows us to investigate effects induced by the magnetic order of the latter. The presence of antiferromagnetic order in NiMn speeds up the demagnetization of the ferromagnetic layer, which is attributed to bidirectional laser-induced superdiffusive spin currents between the ferromagnetic and the antiferromagnetic layer

Ultrafast Optically Induced Ferromagnetic State in an Elemental Antiferromagnet

We present evidence for an ultrafast optically induced ferromagnetic alignment of antiferromagnetic Mn in Co/Mn multilayers. We observe the transient ferromagnetic signal at the arrival of the pump pulse at the Mn L3 resonance using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism in reflectivity. The timescale of the effect is comparable to the duration of the excitation and occurs before the magnetization in Co is quenched. Theoretical calculations point to the imbalanced population of Mn unoccupied states caused by the Co interface for the emergence of this transient ferromagnetic state

Epitaxial and layer-by-layer growth of EuO thin films on yttria-stabilized cubic zirconia (001) using MBE distillation

We have succeeded in growing epitaxial and highly stoichiometric films of EuO on yttria-stabilized cubic zirconia (YSZ) (001). The use of the Eu-distillation process during the molecular beam epitaxy assisted growth enables the consistent achievement of stoichiometry. We have also succeeded in growing the films in a layer-by-layer fashion by fine tuning the Eu vs. oxygen deposition rates. The initial stages of growth involve the limited supply of oxygen from the YSZ substrate, but the EuO stoichiometry can still be well maintained. The films grown were sufficiently smooth so that the capping with a thin layer of aluminum was leak tight and enabled ex situ experiments free from trivalent Eu species. The findings were used to obtain recipes for better epitaxial growth of EuO on MgO (001).Comment: 10 pages, 15 figure