194 research outputs found
Femtosecond control of electric currents at the interfaces of metallic ferromagnetic heterostructures
The idea to utilize not only the charge but also the spin of electrons in the
operation of electronic devices has led to the development of spintronics,
causing a revolution in how information is stored and processed. A novel
advancement would be to develop ultrafast spintronics using femtosecond laser
pulses. Employing terahertz (10 Hz) emission spectroscopy, we
demonstrate optical generation of spin-polarized electric currents at the
interfaces of metallic ferromagnetic heterostructures at the femtosecond
timescale. The direction of the photocurrent is controlled by the helicity of
the circularly polarized light. These results open up new opportunities for
realizing spintronics in the unprecedented terahertz regime and provide new
insights in all-optical control of magnetism.Comment: 3 figures and 2 tables in the main tex
Ultrafast and Distinct Spin Dynamics in Magnetic Alloys
Controlling magnetic order on ultrashort timescales is crucial for engineering the next-generation magnetic devices that combine ultrafast data processing with ultrahigh-density data storage. An appealing scenario in this context is the use of femtosecond (fs) laser pulses as an ultrafast, external stimulus to fully set the orientation and the magnetization magnitude of a spin ensemble. Achieving such control on ultrashort timescales, e.g., comparable to the excitation event itself, remains however a challenge due to the lack of understanding the dynamical behavior of the key parameters governing magnetism: The elemental magnetic moments and the exchange interaction. Here, we investigate the fs laser-induced spin dynamics in a variety of multi-component alloys and reveal a dissimilar dynamics of the constituent magnetic moments on ultrashort timescales. Moreover, we show that such distinct dynamics is a general phenomenon that can be exploited to engineer new magnetic media with tailor-made, optimized dynamic properties. Using phenomenological considerations, atomistic modeling and time-resolved X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), we demonstrate demagnetization of the constituent sub-lattices on significantly different timescales that depend on their magnetic moments and the sign of the exchange interaction. These results can be used as a “recipe” for manipulation and control of magnetization dynamics in a large class of magnetic materials
Solution of the Bethe-Salpeter equation for pion-nucleon scattering
A relativistic description of pion-nucleon scattering based on the
four-dimensional Bethe-Salpeter equation is presented. The kernel of the
equation consists of s- and u-channel nucleon and delta pole diagrams, as well
as rho and sigma exchange in the t-channel. The Bethe-Salpeter equation is
solved by means of a Wick rotation, and good fits are obtained to the s- and
p-wave phase shifts up to 360 MeV pion laboratory energy. The coupling
constants determined by the fits are consistent with the commonly accepted
values in the literature.Comment: 34 pages, RevTeX; 7 figures. Several references added, a few typos
corrected. Accepted for publication in Physical Review
The association between symptomatic, severe hypoglycaemia and mortality in type 2 diabetes: retrospective epidemiological analysis of the ACCORD study
Objective To determine whether there is a link between hypoglycaemia and mortality among participants in the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial
Comparison of Atmospheric Neutrino Flux Calculations at Low Energies
We compare several different calculations of the atmospheric neutrino flux in
the energy range relevant for contained neutrino interactions, and we identify
the major sources of difference among the calculations. We find nothing that
would affect the predicted ratio of , which is nearly the same
in all calculations. Significant differences in normalization arise primarily
from different treatment of pion production by interactions of protons in the
atmosphere. Different assumptions about the primary spectrum and treatment of
the geomagnetic field are also of some importance.Comment: 15 pages, RevTeX , 5 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Antiferromagnetic spintronics
Antiferromagnetic materials are magnetic inside, however, the direction of
their ordered microscopic moments alternates between individual atomic sites.
The resulting zero net magnetic moment makes magnetism in antiferromagnets
invisible on the outside. It also implies that if information was stored in
antiferromagnetic moments it would be insensitive to disturbing external
magnetic fields, and the antiferromagnetic element would not affect
magnetically its neighbors no matter how densely the elements were arranged in
a device. The intrinsic high frequencies of antiferromagnetic dynamics
represent another property that makes antiferromagnets distinct from
ferromagnets. The outstanding question is how to efficiently manipulate and
detect the magnetic state of an antiferromagnet. In this article we give an
overview of recent works addressing this question. We also review studies
looking at merits of antiferromagnetic spintronics from a more general
perspective of spin-ransport, magnetization dynamics, and materials research,
and give a brief outlook of future research and applications of
antiferromagnetic spintronics.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
All-optical switching in granular ferromagnets caused by magnetic circular dichroism
Magnetic recording using circularly polarised femto-second laser pulses is an emerging technology that would allow write speeds much faster than existing field driven methods. However, the mechanism that drives the magnetisation switching in ferromagnets is unclear. Recent theories suggest that the interaction of the light with the magnetised media induces an opto-magnetic field within the media, known as the inverse Faraday effect. Here we show that an alternative mechanism, driven by thermal excitation over the anisotropy energy barrier and a difference in the energy absorption depending on polarisation, can create a net magnetisation over a series of laser pulses in an ensemble of single domain grains. Only a small difference in the absorption is required to reach magnetisation levels observed experimentally and the model does not preclude the role of the inverse Faraday effect but removes the necessity that the opto-magnetic field is 10 s of Tesla in strength
Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications
Spintronics, or spin electronics, involves the study of active control and
manipulation of spin degrees of freedom in solid-state systems. This article
reviews the current status of this subject, including both recent advances and
well-established results. The primary focus is on the basic physical principles
underlying the generation of carrier spin polarization, spin dynamics, and
spin-polarized transport in semiconductors and metals. Spin transport differs
from charge transport in that spin is a nonconserved quantity in solids due to
spin-orbit and hyperfine coupling. The authors discuss in detail spin
decoherence mechanisms in metals and semiconductors. Various theories of spin
injection and spin-polarized transport are applied to hybrid structures
relevant to spin-based devices and fundamental studies of materials properties.
Experimental work is reviewed with the emphasis on projected applications, in
which external electric and magnetic fields and illumination by light will be
used to control spin and charge dynamics to create new functionalities not
feasible or ineffective with conventional electronics.Comment: invited review, 36 figures, 900+ references; minor stylistic changes
from the published versio
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