Ultra-Fast Laser Causes Magnetic Switching (IMAGE)

DOE/Ames National Laboratory

Ultra-Fast Laser Causes Magnetic Switching

Caption

Magnetic structure in a colossal magneto-resistive manganite is switched from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic ordering duringabout 100 femtosecond laser pulse photo-excitation. With time so short and the laser pulses still interacting with magnetic moments, the magnetic switching is driven quantum mechanically -- not thermally. This potentially opens the door to terahertz and faster memory writing/reading speeds.

Credit

US Deptartment of Energy's Ames Laboratory

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