Unikandanunni, V. and Medapalli, R. and Asa, M. and Albisetti, E. and Petti, D. and Bertacco, R. and Fullerton, E.E. and Bonetti, S. (2022) Inertial Spin Dynamics in Epitaxial Cobalt Films. Physical review letters, 129 (23): 237201. ISSN 1079-7114
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
We investigate the spin dynamics driven by terahertz magnetic fields in epitaxial thin films of cobalt in its three crystalline phases. The terahertz magnetic field generates a torque on the magnetization which causes it to precess for about 1 ps, with a subpicosecond temporal lag from the driving force. Then, the magnetization undergoes natural damped THz oscillations at a frequency characteristic of the crystalline phase. We describe the experimental observations solving the inertial Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. Using the results from the relativistic theory of magnetic inertia, we find that the angular momentum relaxation time η is the only material parameter needed to describe all the experimental evidence. Our experiments suggest a proportionality between η and the strength of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy.