Understanding and manipulation of the laser processing quality during the ablation of solids have crucial importance from fundamental and industrial perspectives. Here we have studied the effect of external magnetic field on the micro-material processing of silicon by ultrashort laser pulses. It was found experimentally that such a field directed along the laser beam improves the quality and efficiency of the material removal. Additionally, we observe that the formation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) in a multi-pulse regime is affected by the external magnetic field. Our results open a route towards efficient and controllable ultrafast laser micromachining.
The antiferromagnetic order in heterostructures of NiO/Pt thin films can be modified by optical pulses. After the irradiation with laser light, the optically induced creation of antiferromagnetic domains can be observed by imaging the created domain structure utilizing the X‐ray magnetic linear dichroism effect. The effect of different laser polarizations on the domain formation can be studied and used to identify a polarization‐independent creation of 180° domain walls and domains with 180° different Néel vector orientation. By varying the irradiation parameters, the switching mechanism can be determined to be thermally induced. This study demonstrates experimentally the possibility to optically create antiferromagnetic domains, an important step towards future functionalization of all optical switching mechanisms in antiferromagnets.
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