Canted spin order as a platform for ultrafast conversion of magnons.

Traditionally, magnetic solids are divided into two main classes-ferromagnets and antiferromagnets with parallel and antiparallel spin orders, respectively. Although normally the antiferromagnets have zero magnetization, in some of them an additional antisymmetric spin-spin interaction arises owing to a strong spin-orbit coupling and results in canting of the spins, thereby producing net magnetization. The canted antiferromagnets combine antiferromagnetic order with phenomena typical of ferromagnets and hold great potential for spintronics and magnonics.

Correction to "Terahertz Magnon-Polaritons in TmFeO".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.7b01402.

Modelling nonlocal nonlinear spin dynamics in antiferromagnetic orthoferrites.

Excitation with an ultrashort light pulse is arguably the only way to control spins in antiferromagnetic materials at both the nanoscale in space and ultrafast time scale. While recent experiments highlighted tantalising opportunities for spin switching and magnonics in antiferromagnets, the theoretical description of antiferromagnetic spin dynamics driven by strongly localised and ultrashort excitation is in its infancy. Here we report a theoretical model describing the nonlocal and nonlinear spin response to the excitation by light.

Ultrafast kinetics of the antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic phase transition in FeRh.

Understanding how fast short-range interactions build up long-range order is one of the most intriguing topics in condensed matter physics. FeRh is a test specimen for studying this problem in magnetism, where the microscopic spin-spin exchange interaction is ultimately responsible for either ferro- or antiferromagnetic macroscopic order. Femtosecond laser excitation can induce ferromagnetism in antiferromagnetic FeRh, but the mechanism and dynamics of this transition are topics of intense debates.

Coherent spin-wave transport in an antiferromagnet.

Magnonics is a research field complementary to spintronics, in which quanta of spin waves (magnons) replace electrons as information carriers, promising lower dissipation. The development of ultrafast nanoscale magnonic logic circuits calls for new tools and materials to generate coherent spin waves with frequencies as high, and wavelengths as short, as possible. Antiferromagnets can host spin waves at terahertz (THz) frequencies and are therefore seen as a future platform for the fastest and the least dissipative transfer of information.

Ultrafast control of magnetic interactions via light-driven phonons.

Resonant ultrafast excitation of infrared-active phonons is a powerful technique with which to control the electronic properties of materials that leads to remarkable phenomena such as the light-induced enhancement of superconductivity, switching of ferroelectric polarization and ultrafast insulator-to-metal transitions. Here, we show that light-driven phonons can be utilized to coherently manipulate macroscopic magnetic states. Intense mid-infrared electric field pulses tuned to resonance with a phonon mode of the archetypical antiferromagnet DyFeO induce ultrafast and long-living changes of the fundamental exchange interaction between rare-earth orbitals and transition metal spins.

Resonant Pumping of d-d Crystal Field Electronic Transitions as a Mechanism of Ultrafast Optical Control of the Exchange Interactions in Iron Oxides.

The microscopic origin of ultrafast modification of the ratio between the symmetric (J) and antisymmetric (D) exchange interaction in antiferromagnetic iron oxides is revealed, using femtosecond laser excitation as a pump and terahertz emission spectroscopy as a probe. By tuning the photon energy of the laser pump pulse we show that the effect of light on the D/J ratio in two archetypical iron oxides FeBO_{3} and ErFeO_{3} is maximized when the photon energy is in resonance with a spin and parity forbidden d-d transition between the crystal-field split states of Fe^{3+} ions. The experimental findings are supported by a multielectron model, which accounts for the resonant absorption of photons by Fe^{3+} ions.

Terahertz Optomagnetism: Nonlinear THz Excitation of GHz Spin Waves in Antiferromagnetic FeBO_{3}.

A nearly single cycle intense terahertz (THz) pulse with peak electric and magnetic fields of 0.5  MV/cm and 0.16 T, respectively, excites both modes of spin resonances in the weak antiferromagnet FeBO_{3}.

Spin preservation during THz orbital pumping of shallow donors in silicon.

We investigate the spin relaxation under conditions of optical excitation between the Rydberg orbital states of phosphorus donor impurities in silicon. Here we show that the spin relaxation is less than a few percent, even after multiple excitation/relaxation cycles. The observed high level of spin preservation may be useful for readout cycling or in quantum information schemes where coupling of neighbor qubits is via orbital excitation.

Temporal and spectral fingerprints of ultrafast all-coherent spin switching.

Future information technology demands ever-faster, low-loss quantum control. Intense light fields have facilitated milestones along this way, including the induction of novel states of matter, ballistic acceleration of electrons and coherent flipping of the valley pseudospin. These dynamics leave unique 'fingerprints', such as characteristic bandgaps or high-order harmonic radiation.

Terahertz Magnon-Polaritons in TmFeO.

Magnon-polaritons are shown to play a dominant role in the propagation of terahertz (THz) waves through TmFeO orthoferrite, if the frequencies of the waves are in the vicinity of the quasi-antiferromagnetic spin resonance mode. Both time-domain THz transmission and emission spectroscopies reveal clear beatings between two modes with frequencies slightly above and slightly below this resonance, respectively. Rigorous modeling of the interaction between the spins of TmFeO and the THz light shows that the frequencies correspond to the upper and lower magnon-polariton branches.

Selective Excitation of Terahertz Magnetic and Electric Dipoles in Er^{3+} Ions by Femtosecond Laser Pulses in ErFeO_{3}.

We show that femtosecond laser pulse excitation of the orthoferrite ErFeO_{3} triggers pico- and subpicosecond dynamics of magnetic and electric dipoles associated with the low energy electronic states of the Er^{3+} ions. These dynamics are readily revealed by using polarization sensitive terahertz emission spectroscopy. It is shown that by changing the polarization of the femtosecond laser pulse one can excite either electric dipole-active or magnetic dipole-active transitions between the Kramers doublets of the ^{4}I_{15/2} ground state of the Er^{3+} (4f^{11}) ions.

Colossal magneto-optical modulation at terahertz frequencies by counterpropagating femtosecond laser pulses in TbGaO.

Single-frequency terahertz modulation of the magneto-optical Faraday effect with a record amplitude of the polarization rotation of ∼0.5° is achieved using a slab of the etalon Faraday rotator crystal TbGaO. The modulation is the result of the interaction of two counterpropagating laser pulses via the optical Kerr effect.

Femtosecond control of electric currents in metallic ferromagnetic heterostructures.

The idea to use 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(12) Hz) emission spectroscopy and exploiting the spin-orbit interaction, we demonstrate the optical generation of electric photocurrents in metallic ferromagnetic heterostructures at the femtosecond timescale.

Ultrafast optical modification of exchange interactions in iron oxides.

Ultrafast non-thermal manipulation of magnetization by light relies on either indirect coupling of the electric field component of the light with spins via spin-orbit interaction or direct coupling between the magnetic field component and spins. Here we propose a scenario for coupling between the electric field of light and spins via optical modification of the exchange interaction, one of the strongest quantum effects with strength of 10(3) Tesla. We demonstrate that this isotropic opto-magnetic effect, which can be called inverse magneto-refraction, is allowed in a material of any symmetry.

Chiral electromagnetic fields generated by arrays of nanoslits.

Using a modal matching theory, we demonstrate the generation of short-range, chiral electromagnetic fields via the excitation of arrays of staggered nanoslits that are chiral in two dimensions. The electromagnetic near fields, which exhibit a chiral density greater than that of circularly polarized light, can enhance the chiroptical interactions in the vicinity of the nanoslits. We discuss the features of nanostructure symmetry required to obtain the chiral fields and explicitly show how these structures can give rise to detection and characterization of materials with chiral symmetry.

Ultrasensitive detection and characterization of biomolecules using superchiral fields.

The spectroscopic analysis of large biomolecules is important in applications such as biomedical diagnostics and pathogen detection, and spectroscopic techniques can detect such molecules at the nanogram level or lower. However, spectroscopic techniques have not been able to probe the structure of large biomolecules with similar levels of sensitivity. Here, we show that superchiral electromagnetic fields, generated by the optical excitation of plasmonic planar chiral metamaterials, are highly sensitive probes of chiral supramolecular structure.

Strong interference enhancement of terahertz emission from a photoexcited semiconductor surface.

To enhance terahertz emission from an optically excited semiconductor surface, we propose to sandwich a thin (as compared to the terahertz wavelength) semiconductor layer between a dielectric hyperhemispherical lens and metal substrate. The layer is excited through the lens. The substrate provides constructive interference of terahertz waves emitted to the lens directly from the layer and reflected by the substrate.

Reversed Cherenkov emission of terahertz waves from an ultrashort laser pulse in a sandwich structure with nonlinear core and left-handed cladding.

We propose a scheme for an experimental verification of the reversed Cherenkov effect in left-handed media. The scheme uses optical-to-terahertz conversion in a planar sandwichlike structure that consists of a nonlinear core cladded with a material that exhibits left-handedness at terahertz frequencies. The focused into a line femtosecond laser pulse propagates in the core and emits Cherenkov wedge of terahertz waves in the cladding.