The interplay of light and magnetism has been a topic of interest since the
original observations of Faraday and Kerr where magnetic materials affect the
light polarization. While these effects have historically been exploited to use
light as a probe of magnetic materials there is increasing research on using
polarized light to alter or manipulate magnetism. For instance deterministic
magnetic switching without any applied magnetic fields using laser pulses of
the circular polarized light has been observed for specific ferrimagnetic
materials. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, optical control of
ferromagnetic materials ranging from magnetic thin films to multilayers and
even granular films being explored for ultra-high-density magnetic recording.
Our finding shows that optical control of magnetic materials is a much more
general phenomenon than previously assumed. These results challenge the current
theoretical understanding and will have a major impact on data memory and
storage industries via the integration of optical control of ferromagnetic
bits.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figure
