Magnetization and elastic dynamics in nanostructured metamaterials

In dieser Arbeit wurde magnetische und elastische Dynamik in nanostrukturierten künstlichen Materialien mit Hilfe eines optischen, zeitaufgelösten Pumpprobe Messaufbaus untersucht. Die Absorption der ultraschnellen Laserpulse erzeugt einen Wärmegradienten auf einer Zeitskala von Pikosekunden. Dieser induziert kohärente dynamische Prozesse, welche mit einem zweiten, zeitverzögerten Puls beobachtet werden. In einem zweidimensionalen magnonischen Kristall, bestehend aus einem submikrometer großen Antidotgitter auf einer ferromagnetischen CoFeB Schicht, können Spinwellenmoden beobachtet werden, die eine schwache Frequenzabhängigkeit vom externen magnetischen Feld aufweisen. Dies lässt vermuten, dass Spinwellen in der Nähe von Inhomogenitäten des internen Feldes lokalisieren. Elastische Dynamik auf denselben Strukturen zeigt Frequenzen proportional zu charakteristischen Strukturgrößen (Antidotabstand und Antidotgröße), was auf die Anregung von Spannungswellen auf der Oberfläche hindeutet. Auf CoFeB/MgO Schichtstapeln mit ähnlicher akustischer Impedanz, können sowohl Oberflächenwellen als auch Wellen im Volumen in guter Übereinstimmungmit der Theorie beobachtet werden. Anregung der elastischen Dynamik in Reflektions- und Transmissionsgeometrie zeigen, dass durch das Brechen der Periodizität des Schichtstapels die Amplitude der hochfrequenten Oberflächenwelle effektiv unterdrückt wird. Außerdem sind im W/PC Schichtstapeln mit hohem akustischem Versatz innere Wellen unterdrückt

Numerical calculation of laser-induced thermal diffusion and elastic dynamics

n this article we discuss the implementation of a finite-difference time-domain simulation method, which describes thermal diffusion and elastic dynamics induced by an ultrashort laser-pulse. Besides the pseudocode, we provide an example in which numerical results are compared with experimental data, showing excellent agreement

Pumping laser excited spins through MgO barriers

Martens U, Walowski J, Schumann T, et al. Pumping laser excited spins through MgO barriers. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS. 2017;50(14): 144003.We present a study of the tunnel magneto-Seebeck (TMS) 4 effect in MgO based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). The electrodes consist of CoFeB with in-plane magnetic anisotropy. The temperature gradients which generate a voltage across the MTJs layer stack are created using laser heating. Using this method, the temperature can be controlled on the micrometer length scale: here, we investigate, how both, the TMS voltage and the TMS effect, depend on the size, position and intensity of the applied laser spot. For this study, a large variety of different temperature distributions was created across the junction. We recorded 2D maps of voltages generated by heating in dependence of the laser spot position and the corresponding calculated TMS values. The voltages change in value and sign, from large positive values when heating the MTJ directly in the centre to small values when heating the junction on the edges and even small negative values when heating the sample away from the junction. Those zero crossings lead to very high calculated TMS ratios. Our systematic analysis shows, that the distribution of the temperature gradient is essential, to achieve high voltage signals and reasonable resulting TMS ratios. Furthermore, artefacts on the edges produce misleading results, but also open up further possibilities of more complex heating scenarios for spincaloritronics in spintronic devices

Nanostructural Modification of PEDOT:PSS for High Charge Carrier Collection in Hybrid Frontal Interface of Solar Cells

In this work, we propose poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) material to form a hybrid heterojunction with amorphous silicon-based materials for high charge carrier collection at the frontal interface of solar cells. The nanostructural characteristics of PEDOT:PSS layers were modified using post-treatment techniques via isopropyl alcohol (IPA). Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), and Raman spectroscopy demonstrated conformational changes and nanostructural reorganization in the surface of the polymer in order to tailor hybrid interface to be used in the heterojunctions of inorganic solar cells. To prove this concept, hybrid polymer/amorphous silicon solar cells were fabricated. The hybrid PEDOT:PSS/buffer/a-Si:H heterojunction demonstrated high transmittance, reduction of electron diffusion, and enhancement of the internal electric field. Although the structure was a planar superstrate-type configuration and the PEDOT:PSS layer was exposed to glow discharge, the hybrid solar cell reached high efficiency compared to that in similar hybrid solar cells with substrate-type configuration and that in textured well-optimized amorphous silicon solar cells fabricated at low temperature. Thus, we demonstrate that PEDOT:PSS is fully tailored and compatible material with plasma processes and can be a substitute for inorganic p-type layers in inorganic solar cells and related devices with improvement of performance and simplification of fabrication process

Confinement of phonon propagation in laser deposited tungsten/polycarbonate multilayers

Abstract Nanoscale multilayer thin films of W and PC (Polycarbonate) show, due to the great difference of the components’ characteristics, fascinating properties for a variety of possible applications and provide an interesting research field, but are hard to fabricate with low layer thicknesses. Because of the great acoustic mismatch between the two materials, such nanoscale structures are promising candidates for new phononic materials, where phonon propagation is strongly reduced. In this article we show for the first time that W/PC-multilayers can indeed be grown with high quality by pulsed laser deposition. We analyzed the polymer properties depending on the laser fluence used for deposition, which enabled us to find best experimental conditions for the fabrication of high-acoustic-mismatch W/PC multilayers. The multilayers were analyzed by fs pump-probe spectroscopy showing that phonon dynamics on the ps time-scale can strongly be tailored by structural design. While already periodic multilayers exhibit strong phonon localization, especially aperiodic structures present outstandingly low phonon propagation properties making such 1D-layered W/PC nano-structures interesting for new phononic applications