Ultrafast thermally induced magnetic switching in synthetic ferrimagnets

Abstract

Synthetic ferrimagnets are composite magnetic structures formed from two or more anti- ferromagnetically coupled magnetic sublattices with different magnetic moments. Here we report on atomistic spin simulations of the laser-induced magnetization dynamics on such synthetic ferrimag- nets, and demonstrate that the application of ultrashort laser pulses leads to sub-picoscond magnetization dynamics and all-optical switching in a similar manner as in ferrimagnetic alloys. Moreover, we present the essential material properties for successful laser-induced switching, demonstrating the feasibility of using a synthetic ferrimagnet as a high density magnetic storage element without the need of a write field.