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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. B » Volume 80 » Issue 18
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Phys. Rev. B 80, 180407(R) (2009) [4 pages]

Ultrafast demagnetization of ferromagnetic transition metals: The role of the Coulomb interaction

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Michael Krauß, Tobias Roth, Sabine Alebrand, Daniel Steil, Mirko Cinchetti, Martin Aeschlimann, and Hans Christian Schneider
Department of Physics and Research Center OPTIMAS, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Str. 46, 67653 Kaiserslautern, Germany

Received 26 August 2009; revised 18 October 2009; published 9 November 2009

The Elliott-Yafet (EY) mechanism is arguably the most promising candidate to explain the light-induced ultrafast demagnetization dynamics in ferromagnetic transition metals on time scales on the order of 100 fs. So far, only electron-phonon (or impurity) scattering has been analyzed as the scattering process needed to account for the demagnetization. We show that an EY-like mechanism based on electron-electron scattering has the potential to explain time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements on thin magnetic Co and Ni films, without reference to a “phononic spin bath.”

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.80.180407
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.80.180407
PACS:
75.10.Lp, 71.70.Ej, 78.47.J−
 
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