Breakthrough for efficient and high-speed spintronic devices

Date:
April 25, 2022
Source:
Institut national de la recherche scientifique - INRS
Summary:
Scientists have made a major breakthrough on how the spin evolves
in the nanoworld on extremely short time scales.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Sharing real-time information requires complex networks of systems. A
promising approach for speeding up data storage devices consists of
switching the magnetization, or the electrons' spin, of magnetic materials
with ultra-short femtosecond laser pulses. But, how the spin evolves
in the nanoworld on extremely short time scales, in one millionth of
one billionth of a second, has remained largely mysterious. The team of Professor Franc,ois Le'gare' at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has made a major breakthrough in this field, in collaboration with TU Wien, Austria, the French national synchrotron
facility (SOLEIL) and other international partners. Their work was
published in the journal Optica.


==========================================================================
So far, studies on the subject strongly rely on limited access large
X-ray facilities such as free-electron lasers and synchrotrons. The
team demonstrates, for the first time, a tabletop ultrafast soft X-ray microscope to spatio-temporally resolve the spin dynamics inside rare
earth materials, which are promising for spintronic devices.

This new soft X-ray source based on a high-energy Ytterbium laser
represents a critical advance for studying future energy-efficient and high-speed spintronic devices and could be used for many applications
in physics, chemistry, and biology.

"Our approach provides a robust, cost-efficient and energy-scalable
elegant solution for many laboratories. It allows the study of ultrafast dynamics in nanoscale and mesoscale structures with both nanometre
spatial and femtosecond temporal resolutions, as well as with the element specificity," says Professor Andrius Baltuska, at TU Wien.

Bright X-ray pulses to watch the spin With this bright source of
X-ray photons, a series of snapshot images of the nanoscale rare earth
magnetic structures have been recorded. They clearly expose the fast demagnetization process, and the results provide rich information on
the magnetic properties that are as accurate as those obtained using large-scale X-ray facilities.

"Development of ultrafast tabletop X-ray sources is exciting
for cutting-edge technological applications and modern fields of
science. We are excited about our results, that could be helpful for
future research for spintronics, as well as other potential fields,"
says INRS postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Guangyu Fan.

"Rare earth systems are trending in the community because of their
nanometer size, faster speed, and topologically protected stability. The
X-ray source is very attractive for many studies on future spintronic
devices composed of rare earth." says Nicolas Jaouen, senior scientist
at the French national synchrotron facility.

Professor Le'gare' emphasizes the collaborative work between experts in
the development of state-of-the-art light sources and ultrafast dynamics
in magnetic materials at the nanoscale. "Considering the quick emergence
of high- power Ytterbium laser technology, this work represents huge
potential for high- performance soft X-ray sources. This new generation of lasers, which will be available soon at the Advanced Laser Light Source
(ALLS), will have many future applications for the fields of physics, chemistry, and even biology," he says.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Institut_national_de_la_recherche_scientifique_-_INRS.

Original written by Audrey-Maude Ve'zina. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. G. Fan, K. Le'gare', V. Cardin, X. Xie, R. Safaei, E. Kaksis, G.

Andriukaitis, A. Pugžlys, B. E. Schmidt, J. P. Wolf,
M. Hehn, G.

Malinowski, B. Vodungbo, E. Jal, J. Lu"ning, N. Jaouen,
G. Giovannetti, F. Calegari, Z. Tao, A. Baltuska, F. Le'gare',
T. Balčiūnas.

Ultrafast magnetic scattering on ferrimagnets enabled by a bright
Yb- based soft x-ray source. Optica, 2022; 9 (4): 399 DOI: 10.1364/
OPTICA.443440 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220425085735.htm

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