Elementary terahertz spin interactions in magnetic solids (A05)

• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 328545488

This project aims at revealing elementary interactions of ordered spin systems with mobile electrons and lattice vibrations. We will employ a highly selective optical ultrafast pump-probe technique: An electromagnetic pump pulse, which is tunable from the terahertz to the ultraviolet spectral range, excites specific low-energy resonances, such as phonons, conduction electrons or magnons. The impact on the spin and other degrees of freedom is monitored by a subsequent terahertz or optical probe pulse. We will work toward (i) ultrafast switching of antiferromagnetic order by Néel spin-orbit torques in the collinear antiferromagnet Mn2Au and (ii) reveal the linear and nonlinear dynamics of the coupled magnetic and ferroelectric order in the multiferroic BiFeO3.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 227: Ultrafast Spin Dynamics
• Applicant Institution: Freie Universität Berlin
• Project Heads: Professorin Dr. Kathrin Dörr, from 1/2022 until 12/2025; Professor Dr. Tobias Kampfrath; Dr. Tom Sebastian Seifert, since 1/2022