Surface magnetoelastic waves are coupled elastic and magnetic excitations that propagate along the surface of a magnetic material. Ultrafast optical techniques allow for a non-contact excitation and detection scheme while providing the ability to measure both elastic and magnetic components individually. Here we describe a simple setup suitable for excitation and time resolved measurements of high frequency magnetoelastic waves, which is based on the transient grating technique. The elastic dynamics are measured by diffracting a probe laser pulse from the long-wavelength spatially periodic structural deformation. Simultaneously, a magnetooptical measurement, either Faraday or Kerr effect, is sensitive to the out-of-plane magnetization component. The correspondence in the response of the two channels probes the resonant interaction between the two degrees of freedom and reveals their intimate coupling. Unraveling the observed dynamics requires a detailed understanding of the spatio-temporal evolution of temperature, magnetization and thermo-elastic strain in the ferromagnet. Numerical solution of thermal diffusion in two dimensions provides the basis on which to understand the sensitivity in the magnetooptic detection.
Ultrafast laser excited hot electrons can transport energy supersonically far from the region where they are initially produced. We show that this ultrafast energy transport is responsible of the emission of coherent acoustic phonons deeply beneath the free surface of a copper metal sample. In particular we demonstrate that enough energy carried by these hot electrons over a distance as large as 220nm at room temperature in copper can be converted into coherent acoustic phonons. In order to demonstrate this effect, several configurations of time-resolved optical experiments of time of flight of coherent acoustic phonons and of hot electrons have been performed.
We have developed a high-sensitivity, low-noise femtosecond imaging technique based on pump-probe time-resolved measurements with a standard CCD camera. The approach used in the experiment is based on lock-in acquisitions of images generated by a femtosecond laser probe synchronized to modulation of a femtosecond laser pump at the same rate. This technique allows time-resolved imaging of laser-excited phenomena with femtosecond time resolution. We illustrate the technique by time-resolved imaging of the nonlinear reshaping of a laser-excited picosecond acoustic pulse after propagation through a thin gold layer. Image analysis reveals the direct 2D visualization of the nonlinear acoustic propagation of the picosecond acoustic pulse. Many ultrafast pump-probe investigations can profit from this technique because of the wealth of information it provides over a typical single diode and lock-in amplifier setup, for example it can be used to image ultrasonic echoes in biological samples.
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