Optomagnetism with plasmonic skyrmion

Research at the frontier between optics and magnetism is revealing a wealth of innovative phenomena and avenues of exploration. Optical waves are demonstrating the capacity to induce ultrafast magnetism, while optical analogs of magnetic states, such as magnetic skyrmions, offer the prospect of novel spin-optical states. In this paper, we strengthen the synergy between light and magnetism by exploring the ability of plasmonic Neel skyrmions to create a stationary magnetic field within a thin gold film. We show that, when generated using a focused radially-polarized vortex beam, a plasmonic Neel skyrmion emerges as an optimum for inducing optomagnetism in a thin gold film. Optical skyrmions offer new degrees of freedom for enhancing and controlling optomagnetism in plasmonic nanostructures, with direct application in all-optical magnetization switching, magnetic recording, and the excitation of spin waves

Media 1: Fiber-integrated optical nano-tweezer based on a bowtie-aperture nano-antenna at the apex of a SNOM tip

Originally published in Optics Express on 21 April 2014 (oe-22-8-10072