title: Femtosecond control of electric currents in metallic ferromagnetic heterostructures.
abstract: The idea to use not only the charge but also the spin of electrons in the operation of electronic devices has led to the development of spintronics, causing a revolution in how information is stored and processed. A novel advancement would be to develop ultrafast spintronics using femtosecond laser pulses. Employing terahertz (10(12) Hz) emission spectroscopy and exploiting the spin-orbit interaction, we demonstrate the optical generation of electric photocurrents in metallic ferromagnetic heterostructures at the femtosecond timescale. The direction of the photocurrent is controlled by the helicity of the circularly polarized light. These results open up new opportunities for realizing spintronics in the unprecedented terahertz regime and provide new insights in all-optical control of magnetism.
authors: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors: T J
authors: TJ
authors: Huisman
authors: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors: R V
authors: RV
authors: Mikhaylovskiy
authors: INL - International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Av. Mestre José Veiga s/n, 4715-330 Braga, Portugal.|IN-IFIMUP, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
authors: J D
authors: JD
authors: Costa
authors: Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors: F
authors: 0000-0001-6193-5991
authors: F
authors: Freimuth
authors: INL - International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Av. Mestre José Veiga s/n, 4715-330 Braga, Portugal.
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Paz
authors: IN-IFIMUP, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
authors: J
authors: 0000-0003-0494-3009
authors: J
authors: Ventura
authors: INL - International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Av. Mestre José Veiga s/n, 4715-330 Braga, Portugal.
authors: P P
authors: PP
authors: Freitas
authors: Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Blügel
authors: Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Mokrousov
authors: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors: Th
authors: T
authors: Rasing
authors: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors: A V
authors: AV
authors: Kimel