Study of the ultrafast dynamics of ferromagnetic materials with a Quantum Monte Carlo atomistic model

TL;DR

This paper presents a quantum Monte Carlo atomistic model to investigate the ultrafast angular momentum dynamics in ferrimagnets under laser irradiation, revealing microscopic mechanisms of magnetization quenching.

Contribution

It introduces a novel quantum atomistic spin approach incorporating spin-orbit transfer and collision mechanisms to explain ultrafast magnetization dynamics.

Findings

Microscopic explanation of ultrafast magnetization quenching.

Role of spin transfer between sublattices.

Impact of orbital angular momentum quenching.

Abstract

We study of the ultrafast dynamics of the atomic angular momentum in ferrimagnets irradiated by laser pulses. My apply a quantum atomistic spin approach based on the Monte Carlo technique. Our model describes the coherent transfer of angular momentum between the spin and the orbital momentum as well as the quenching of the orbital momentum induced by the lattice field. The Elliott-Yafet collision mechanism is also included. We focus on elementary mechanisms that lead to the dissipation of the total angular momentum in a rare earth-transition metal (RE-TM) alloy in which the two sublattices have opposite spin orientation. Our model shows that the observed ultrafast quenching of the magnetization can be explained microscopically by the transfer of spin between the sublattices and by the quenching of the localized orbital angular momentum.