Magnetic switching by circular polarized laser pulses is a promising tool for an ultrafast control of magnetism without the need for external magnetic fields. A principle limitation of the spatial resolution is set by the optical diffraction limit which is a clear disadvantage in view of the trend towards nanoscale magnetic structures to achieve high density storage. Here we suggest to exploit the light-matter interaction to achieve atomistic spatial and femtosecond temporal resolutions. The idea is to drive current loops in fullerenes attached to a scanning tip by virtue of femtosecond optical vortices. Using full- edge quantum simulations we calculate the magnetic field associated with the fullerenes current loops and employ this magnetic field for ferromagnetic resonance studies on magnetic adatoms.

Date Published: 26 September 2016
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9931, Spintronics IX, 99311B (26 September 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2237133

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9931:
Spintronics IX
Henri-Jean Drouhin; Jean-Eric Wegrowe; Manijeh Razeghi, Editor(s)