We report polarization-controlled emission from an emitter stack that consists of two spintronic Fe/Pt terahertz emitters. Since the magnetization in the thin iron film of both emitters stays aligned with the easy magnetization axis after removal of an external magnetic bias field, the polarization of the emitted fields from both emitters can be independently controlled by rotation of the two emitters relative to each other. We studied the dependence of the amplitude and polarization of the emitted terahertz field from the stack on the relative rotation of the emitters and the gap width between the emitters in the stack.
We analytically and experimentally investigate the radiated terahertz fields from a stack of two spintronic Fe/Pt terahertz emitters that are aligned back to back with the Pt-surfaces facing each other. We experimentally and theoretically study the dependence of the emitted terahertz fields from the stack on the relative orientation of the individual emitters. For collinear alignment in the same direction, we determined an increase of the maximal emission amplitude by a factor of 1.57 in comparison with a single emitter. We also evaluated the cavity effects that originate from the air gap between the individual emitters in theory and experiment.
The field of THz spintronics is a novel direction in the research field of spintronics that combines magnetism with optical physics and ultrafast photonics. The experimental scheme of the field involves the use of femtosecond laser pulses to trigger ultrafast spin and charge dynamics in bilayers composed of ferromagnetic (FM) and nonmagnetic (NM) thin films where the NM layer features a strong spin-orbit coupling. The key technological and scientific challenges of THz spintronic emitters is to increase their intensity and frequency bandwidth. To achieve this the control of the source of the radiation, namely the transport of the ultrafast spin current is required. However, the transfer of a spin current from a FM to a NM layer is a highly interface-sensitive effect. In this work we study the properties of the spin current transport through the interface measuring the strength of the THz emission and compare it to the effective spin mixing conductance, one of the key concepts in the spin current transport through interfaces. The results show an enhancement of the spin mixing conductance for interfaces with higher degree of epitaxy similarly to the improvement of the THz emission. The proportionality between spin mixing conductance and THz emission can define new directions in engineering the emission of spintronic THz emitters.
Recent studies in spintronics have highlighted ultrathin magnetic metallic multilayers as a novel and very promising class of broadband terahertz radiation sources. Such spintronic multilayers consist of ferromagnetic (FM) and non-magnetic (NM) thin films. When triggered by ultrafast laser pulses, they generate pulsed THz radiation due to the inverse spin-Hall effect – a mechanism that converts optically driven spin currents from the magnetized FM layer into transient transverse charge currents in the NM layer, resulting in THz emission. As THz emitters, FM/NM multilayers have been intensively investigated so far only at 800-nm excitation wavelength using femtosecond Ti:sapphire lasers. In this work, we demonstrate that an optimized spintronic bilayer structure of 2-nm Fe and 3-nm Pt grown on 500 μm MgO substrate is just as effective as a THz radiation source when excited either at λ = 400 nm, λ = 800 nm or at λ = 1550 nm by ultrafast laser pulses (pulse width ~100 fs, repetition rate ~100 MHz). Even at low incident power levels, the Fe/Pt spintronic emitter exhibits efficient generation of THz radiation at all three excitation wavelengths. The efficient THz emitter operation at 1550 nm facilitates the integration of such spintronic emitters in THz systems driven by relatively low cost and compact fs fiber lasers without the need for frequency conversion.
The inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) can be used to generate broadband terahertz (THz) radiation. This has been demonstrated recently [1 – 3]. We report on efficient generation of pulsed broadband terahertz radiation utilizing the inverse spin hall effect in Fe/Pt bilayers on MgO and sapphire substrates. The magnetic and nonmagnetic layers were epitaxially grown on MgO and sapphire substrates. The emitter was optimized with respect to layer thickness, growth parameters, substrates and geometrical arrangement. Using the device in a counterintuitive orientation a hyperhemispherical Si lens was attached to increase the collection efficiency of the emitter. In this arrangement multiple reflections of the THz pulses from the substrate surfaces are avoided as the metallic layers act as an antireflection coating [4].
The experimentally determined dependence of the THz signal on the layer thicknesses was in qualitative agreement with simulations of the ISHE in the Fe-Pt bilayer. An optimum layer thicknesses of 2 nm and 3 nm were found for Fe and Pt, respectively. The optimized emitter provided a bandwidth of up to 8 THz for both the sapphire and MgO substrates which was mainly limited by the GaAs photoconductive antenna used as detector. The dynamic range reached 60 dB for the MgO substrate at a frequency of 1.5 THz. The pulse length was as short as 220 fs for a pump pulse length of the 800 nm pump laser of about 50 fs. In the case of MgO substrates strong THz absorption of MgO reduced the dynamic range above 3 THz considerably.
Average pump powers as low as 25 mW (at a repetition rate of 80 MHz) have been used for terahertz generation. This and the general performance makes the spintronic terahertz emitter compatible with established emitters using nonlinear generation methods.
References
[1] T. Seifert et al., Nature Photonics 10, 483 (2016)
[2] D. Yang, et al., Advanced Optical Materials. doi:10.1002/adom.201600270 (2016)
[3] Y. Wu, Adv. Mater. doi:10.1002/adma.201603031 (2016)
[4] J. Kröll et al., Optics Express 15, 6552 (2007)
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