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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Letter › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Letter › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Resonant Pumping of d−d Crystal Field Electronic Transitions as a Mechanism of Ultrafast Optical Control of the Exchange Interactions in Iron Oxides
AU - Mikhaylovskiy, Rostislav
N1 - © 2020 American Physical Society
PY - 2020/10/9
Y1 - 2020/10/9
N2 - The microscopic origin of ultrafast modification of the ratio between the symmetric (J) and antisymmetric (D) exchange interaction in antiferromagnetic iron oxides is revealed, using femtosecond laser excitation as a pump and terahertz emission spectroscopy as a probe. By tuning the photon energy of the laser pump pulse we show that the effect of light on the D/J ratio in two archetypical iron oxides FeBO3 and ErFeO3 is maximized when the photon energy is in resonance with a spin and parity forbidden d−d transition between the crystal-field split states of Fe3+ ions. The experimental findings are supported by a multielectron model, which accounts for the resonant absorption of photons by Fe3+ ions. Our results reveal the importance of the parity and spin-change forbidden, and therefore often underestimated, d−d transitions in ultrafast optical control of magnetism.
AB - The microscopic origin of ultrafast modification of the ratio between the symmetric (J) and antisymmetric (D) exchange interaction in antiferromagnetic iron oxides is revealed, using femtosecond laser excitation as a pump and terahertz emission spectroscopy as a probe. By tuning the photon energy of the laser pump pulse we show that the effect of light on the D/J ratio in two archetypical iron oxides FeBO3 and ErFeO3 is maximized when the photon energy is in resonance with a spin and parity forbidden d−d transition between the crystal-field split states of Fe3+ ions. The experimental findings are supported by a multielectron model, which accounts for the resonant absorption of photons by Fe3+ ions. Our results reveal the importance of the parity and spin-change forbidden, and therefore often underestimated, d−d transitions in ultrafast optical control of magnetism.
KW - terahertz
KW - ultrafast
KW - antiferromagnets
KW - exchange interaction
KW - oxides
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.157201
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.157201
M3 - Letter
VL - 125
JO - Physical review letters
JF - Physical review letters
SN - 1079-7114
M1 - 157201
ER -