Light-Induced Magnetization at the Nanoscale

Theorists predict that an atomic gas could be magnetized using only lasers, something that could provide a noninvasive way to quickly manipulate the magnetic properties of the gas. Here we demonstrate a method to control laser-generated magnetic moments spatiotemporally for an atomic gas. J. Wätzel et al. Phys. Rev.Lett, 128157205 (2022).
experimental setup

 
Here we propose a novel laser-based scheme for generating atomic-scale charge current loops within femtoseconds. The associated orbital magnetic moments remain ferromagnetically aligned after the laser pulses have ceased and are localized within an area that is tunable via laser parameters and can be chosen to be well below the diffraction limit of the driving laser field.The scheme relies on tuning the phase, polarization, and intensities of two copropagating Gaussian and vortex laser pulses, allowing us to control the spatial extent, direction, and strength of the atomic-scale charge current loops induced in the irradiated sample upon photon absorption.
Retrieve article

Wätzel J., Rebernik Ribič P., Coreno M., Danailov M. B., David C., Demidovich A., Di Fraia M., Giannessi L., Hansen K., Krušič Š., Manfredda M., Meyer M., Mihelič A., Mirian N., Plekan O., Ressel B., Rösner B., Simoncig A., Spampinati S., Stupar M., Žitnik M., Zangrando M., Callegari C., Berakdar J., De Ninno G.
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 128 - 15, p. 157205 (2022)
doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.157205

Last Updated on Friday, 07 October 2022 10:53