Terahertz spin currents in magnetically ordered thin films

Shortly after the recent discovery of the spintronic emission of short pulses of terahertz (THz) radiation, new prospects for a phase- and frequency-resolved detection of ultrashort spin currents have emerged. The analysis of emitted THz pulses has provided both fundamental and application relevant insights into the generation, propagation and conversion of picosecond-long spin currents in magnetically ordered thin films.

In the lecture, we will overview the spintronic emission of THz radiation as compared to traditional THz sources and explain the detection and extraction of ultrafast spin currents in the in-plane and out-of-plane geometries. In the follow-up seminar, we illustrate these techniques on our real recent experimental results and propose a strategy to transfer the ultrafast spintronic functionalities into fully compensated magnetic systems. Such a transfer could open pathways towards ultra-dense, ultra-fast and energy-efficient non-volatile memories that are beyond the reach of the established
ferromagnetic technology.