Essert, Sven and Schneider, Hans Christian
(2011)
Electron-phonon scattering dynamics in ferromagnetic metals and their influence on ultrafast demagnetization processes.
Physical Review B (PRB) 84 (22), p. 224405.
Date of publication of this fulltext: 26 Jan 2012 14:19at publisher (via DOI)
Other URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.84.224405
Abstract
We theoretically investigate spin-dependent carrier dynamics due to the electron-phonon interaction after ultrafast optical excitation in ferromagnetic metals. We calculate the electron-phonon matrix elements including the spin-orbit interaction in the electronic wave functions and the interaction potential. Using the matrix elements in Boltzmann scattering integrals, the momentum-resolved ...
Abstract
We theoretically investigate spin-dependent carrier dynamics due to the electron-phonon interaction after ultrafast optical excitation in ferromagnetic metals. We calculate the electron-phonon matrix elements including the spin-orbit interaction in the electronic wave functions and the interaction potential. Using the matrix elements in Boltzmann scattering integrals, the momentum-resolved carrier distributions are obtained by solving their equation of motion numerically. We find that the optical excitation with realistic laser intensities alone leads to a negligible magnetization change, and that the demagnetization due to electron-phonon interaction is mostly due to hole scattering. Importantly, the calculated demagnetization quenching due to this Elliot-Yafet-type depolarization mechanism is not large enough to explain the experimentally observed result. We argue that the ultrafast demagnetization of ferromagnets does not occur exclusively via an Elliott-Yafet type process, i.e., scattering in the presence of the spin-orbit interaction, but is influenced to a large degree by a dynamical change of the band structure, i.e., the exchange splitting.
Export bibliographical data
| Item type: | Article |
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| Date: | 9 December 2011 |
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| Institutions: | UNSPECIFIED |
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| Interdisciplinary Subject Network: | Not selected |
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| Identification Number: | | Value | Type |
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| 10.1103/PhysRevB.84.224405 | DOI |
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| Classification: | | Notation | Type |
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| 75.78.Jp, 75.70.Tj, 78.47.J- | PACS |
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| Dewey Decimal Classification: | 500 Science > 530 Physics |
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| Status: | Published |
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| Refereed: | Yes, this version has been refereed |
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| Created at the University of Regensburg: | No |
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| Item ID: | 23309 |
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