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TRR 227:  Ultrafast Spin Dynamics

Subject Area Physics
Term since 2018
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Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 328545488
 
Fast and small – these are the demands on future technologies, which we witness every day when using electronic devices. The spin of the electron is the most promising degree of freedom for manipulating and storing information under the requested conditions. The reason is that spin angular momentum can be used to encode, transport and even process information, potentially with little energy in ultrasmall volumes and at ultrafast speeds . While terahertz bandwidths are envisioned for future applications, present-day spin-based devices operate at 100-1000 times lower clock rates. Consequently, in 2018, our collaborative research center set out to lay foundations of new technologies by studying spin dynamics on ultrafast time scales and atomic length scales in solids. In the 1st funding period, we successfully established and used stimuli and probes of spin dynamics with temporal (femtosecond) and spatial (nanometer) resolution and developed multiscale approaches to model and predict ultrafast spin dynamics. We used this powerful toolbox to reveal and understand novel phenomena in established state-of-the-art magnetic materials and promising 2D systems for opto-spintronic applications. In the 2nd funding period, we extended our material basis by a well-balanced set of prototypical systems with a more complex spin structure. We showed that ultrafast magnon excitation can explain the demagnetization of elemental ferromagnets. We discovered multiplet excitations as a new mechanism to excite spin and orbital momentum in 4f metals. We used transient gratings and pulse sequences to explore the fundamental spatial and temporal limit of all-optical magnetization switching. We pushed the realm of antiferromagnetic spintronics to ultrafast time scales and explored novel ways of efficient control and interrogation of spin systems at THz rates and on nanometer length scales. For the 3rd funding period our CRC/TRR is well prepared to address the following important objectives: We aim to generate and explore spin currents for sub-picosecond magnetization switching. We will explore specific excitations, such as multiplet excitations, phonons and THz spin-orbit torques, for the control of spin dynamics and ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic order. In 2D systems, we will look for counterparts of familiar spin phenomena for the pseudospin of excitons and explore time-dependent electric and strain fields for magnon and magnetization control in 2D ferromagnets. We will broaden our view to forms of angular momentum beyond spin by using the angular momentum of phonons and of electron orbits for ultrafast manipulation of magnetic order and of magnetic anisotropy. Finally, we aim to transfer the understanding of femtosecond spin dynamics into novel functionalities and even device concepts for future ultrafast spin-based technology.
DFG Programme CRC/Transregios

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Applicant Institution Freie Universität Berlin
 
 

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