Tracking the ultrafast motion of an antiferromagnetic order parameter
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Date
2019
Publication Type
Journal Article
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yes
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Abstract
The unique functionalities of antiferromagnets offer promising routes to advance information technology. Their compensated magnetic order leads to spin resonances in the THz-regime, which suggest the possibility to coherently control antiferromagnetic (AFM) devices orders of magnitude faster than traditional electronics. However, the required time resolution, complex sublattice interactions and the relative inaccessibility of the AFM order parameter pose serious challenges to studying AFM spin dynamics. Here, we reveal the temporal evolution of an AFM order parameter directly in the time domain. We modulate the AFM order in hexagonal YMnO3 by coherent magnon excitation and track the ensuing motion of the AFM order parameter using time-resolved optical second-harmonic generation. The dynamic symmetry reduction by the moving order parameter allows us to separate electron dynamics from spin dynamics. As transient symmetry reductions are common to coherent excitations, we have a general tool for tracking the ultrafast motion of an AFM order parameter.
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published
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Volume
10
Pages / Article No.
3995
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Nature
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Organisational unit
03918 - Fiebig, Manfred / Fiebig, Manfred
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Funding
147080 - Light-matter interaction in systems with strong electronic correlations (SNF)
Related publications and datasets
Is supplemented by: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/492546