@article{13245,
  keywords = {Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci), FOS: Physical sciences, FOS: Physical sciences},
  author = {Sinéad Ryan and Peter Johnsen and Mohamed Elhanoty and Anya Grafov and Na Li and Anna Delin and Anastasios Markou and Edouard Lesne and Claudia Felser and Olle Eriksson and Henry Kapteyn and Oscar Grånäs and Margaret Murnane},
  title = {Optically controlling the competition between spin flips and intersite spin transfer in a Heusler half-metal on sub-100 fs timescales},
  abstract = {<p>The direct manipulation of spins via light may provide a path toward ultrafast energy-efficient devices. However, distinguishing the microscopic processes that can occur during ultrafast laser excitation in magnetic alloys is challenging. Here, we combine the element-specificity of extreme ultraviolet high harmonic probes with time-dependent density functional theory to disentangle the competition between three ultrafast processes that occur in Co2MnGa: same-site Co-Co spin transfer, intersite Co-Mn spin transfer, and ultrafast spin flips mediated by spin-orbit coupling. By measuring the dynamic magnetic asymmetry across the entire M-edges of the two magnetic sublattices involved, we uncover the relative dominance of these processes at different probe energy regions and times during the laser pulse. The theoretical calculations demonstrate that pump-induced changes of magnetic asymmetry do not necessarily scale linearly with changes of the magnetic moment. The combined theoretical and experimental approach presented here enables a comprehensive microscopic interpretation of laser-induced magnetization dynamics on time scales shorter than 100 fs.</p>
},
  year = {2023},
  journal = {Science Advances},
  volume = {9},
  pages = {eadi1428},
  month = {2023-11},
  publisher = {arXiv},
  doi = {10.1126/sciadv.adi1428},
}