Chapter 3 Magneto-optical kerr spectra

Oppeneer, Peter M.

doi:10.1016/s1567-2719(01)13007-6

Cited by 70 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 709 publications

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“…Although the half-metallic property may enhance the Kerr effect through a plasma minimum in the reflectivity, the more pronounced influence comes from the size of the spinorbit coupling. 39 The strong spin-orbit coupling of Pt contributes significantly to the large Kerr effect of PtMnSb. The spin-orbit coupling of Cr as well as of O is much smaller, so that consequently only a small Kerr effect results for CrO 2 .…”

Section: Polar Kerr Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electronic structure ofCrO2as deduced from its magneto-optical Kerr spectra

et al. 2002

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We report a combined experimental-computational investigation of the electronic structure of CrO 2 . We have measured the magneto-optical Kerr spectra of CrO 2 at 10 K and 300 K. At 10 K the Kerr signal is significantly enhanced over that obtained at 300 K. We compare the measured Kerr spectra to first-principles theoretical spectra, which we computed using three different approximations to the exchange-correlation functional, i.e., the local spin-density approximation ͑LSDA͒, generalized gradient approximation ͑GGA͒, and LSDAϩU. The experimental low-temperature magneto-optical Kerr spectra are best explained by calculations employing the GGA functional. The addition of an on-site Coulomb correlation U does not lead to reasonable Kerr spectra.

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Section: Polar Kerr Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electronic structure ofCrO2as deduced from its magneto-optical Kerr spectra

et al. 2002

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“…We use the augmented spherical wave (ASW) method (see Ref. 23) which has already provided a very efficient relativistic bandstructure framework for accurate calculations of linear response functions, such as the conductivity tensor [24,25]. The evaluation of the momentum operator matrix elements p nl (k) and details of the k-space integration method can be found in Refs.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The linewidth Γ is here assumed to be state independent. We use Γ = 0.03 Ry, a value which, in ab initio calculations of linear-order optical response tensors was found to give a good description for metals [24].…”

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Ab InitioTheory of Coherent Laser-Induced Magnetization in Metals

et al. 2016

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We present the first materials specific ab initio theory of the magnetization induced by circularly polarized laser light in metals. Our calculations are based on non-linear density matrix theory and include the effect of absorption. We show that the induced magnetization, commonly referred to as inverse Faraday effect, is strongly materials and frequency dependent, and demonstrate the existence of both spin and orbital induced magnetizations which exhibit a surprisingly different behavior. We show that for nonmagnetic metals (as Cu, Au, Pd, Pt) and antiferromagnetic metals the induced magnetization is antisymmetric in the light's helicity, whereas for ferromagnetic metals (Fe, Co, Ni, FePt) the imparted magnetization is only asymmetric in the helicity. We compute effective optomagnetic fields that correspond to the induced magnetizations and provide guidelines for achieving all-optical helicity-dependent switching.PACS numbers: 78.20. Ls, 75.70.Tj, 75.60.Jk All-optical helicity-dependent magnetization switching has recently emerged as a promising way to manipulate and ultimately control the magnetization in a magnetic material using ultrashort optical laser pulses [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. As femtosecond optical laser pulses are the shortest stimuli known to mankind, all-optical helicity-dependent switching offers novel options to achieve magnetization reversal at a hitherto unprecedented speed. The action of a circularly polarized laser pulse on the magnetization of a material was at first observed for an antiferromagnetic 3d-metal oxide [1] and later magnetization reversal was demonstrated in a ferrimagnetic rare-earth transitionmetal alloy [2,8]. Importantly, recent work demonstrated that all-optical helicity-dependent switching is not limited to a special class of materials, but can be achieved in a broader variety of material classes, including metallic multilayers, synthetic ferrimagnets [6], and even ferromagnets such as FePt [7], which is the prime candidate material for future ultradense magnetic recording [9].While these discoveries exemplify that ultrafast magnetization reversal driven by circularly polarized laser pulses could soon revolutionize magnetic recording its underlying physical mechanism is poorly understood. The influence of the circularly polarized laser pulse has been attributed to the inverse Faraday effect (IFE) [1][2][3]7], which was discovered fifty years ago [10]. The IFE is an optomagnetic counterpart of the magneto-optical Faraday effect, that is, the circularly polarized laser light imparts a magnetization in the material which exerts a torque on the pre-existing magnetization and assists the magnetization switching. However, although various models for the IFE have been proposed [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] there does as yet not exist any knowledge as to how the induced magnetization, or optomagnetic field arises, and even less is known about the materials dependence of the IFE. As materials specific theory is lacking it is neither known for which materials large effects are pr...

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“…We then can relate the Kerr signal to the injected magnetic moment. To this end we have performed ab initio density-functional theory calculations of the magneto-optical response [29] of magnetized fcc Au (see SM [28]). This yields a rotation θ Au of −0.0092 • and an ellipticity ε Au of −0.0055 • per 0.01 μ B /atom.…”

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confidence: 99%