Eur. Phys. J. B (2018) 91: 98
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2018-80555-5

Colloquium

Hot-electron transport and ultrafast magnetization dynamics in magnetic multilayers and nanostructures following femtosecond laser pulse excitation

¹ Institut Jean Lamour, CNRS UMR 7198, Université de Lorraine, 54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
² Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, UMR 7504, 67000 Strasbourg, France

^a e-mail: gregory.malinowski@univ-lorraine.fr

Received: 3 October 2017
Received in final form: 22 February 2018
Published online: 4 June 2018

Abstract

Understanding and controlling the magnetization dynamics on the femtosecond timescale is becoming indispensable both at the fundamental level and to develop future technological applications. While direct laser excitation of a ferromagnetic layer was commonly used during the past twenty years, laser induced hot-electrons femtosecond pulses and subsequent transport in magnetic multilayers has attracted a lot of attention. Indeed, replacing photons by hot-electrons offers complementary information to improve our understanding of ultrafast magnetization dynamics and to provide new possibilities for manipulating the magnetization in a thin layer on the femtosecond timescale. In this review, we report on experiments of hot-electrons induced ultrafast magnetic phenomena. We discuss the role of hot-electrons transport in the ultrafast loss of magnetization in magnetic single and multilayers and how it is exploited to trigger magnetization dynamics in magnetic multilayers.