Using ultrashort terahertz pulses to directly probe spin dynamics in insulating antiferromagnets

Terahertz pulses are a direct and general probe of ultrafast spin dynamics in insulating antiferromagnets (AFM). This is shown by using optical-pump, THz-probe spectroscopy to directly track AFM spin dynamics in the hexagonal multiferroic HoMnO3 and the orthorhombic multiferroic TbMnO3. Our studies...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of physics. D, Applied physics Applied physics, 2018-04, Vol.51 (19), p.194003
Main Authors: Bowlan, P, Trugman, S A, Yarotski, D A, Taylor, A J, Prasankumar, R P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
antiferromagnetism
CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
manganites
MATERIALS SCIENCE
spin dynamics
terahertz spectroscopy
ultrafast phenomena
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Summary:Terahertz pulses are a direct and general probe of ultrafast spin dynamics in insulating antiferromagnets (AFM). This is shown by using optical-pump, THz-probe spectroscopy to directly track AFM spin dynamics in the hexagonal multiferroic HoMnO3 and the orthorhombic multiferroic TbMnO3. Our studies show that despite the different structural and spin orders in these materials, THz pulses can unambiguously resolve spin dynamics after optical photoexcitation. We believe that this approach is quite general and can be applied to a broad range of materials with different AFM spin alignments, providing a novel non-contact approach for probing AFM order with femtosecond temporal resolution.
ISSN:0022-3727
1361-6463
DOI:10.1088/1361-6463/aab8da