Shining laser light on a two-dimensional material produces subtle changes in its magnetic properties

Amazing stuff!

"Researchers in Switzerland have found an unexpected new use for an optical technique commonly used in silicon chip manufacturing. By shining a focused laser beam onto a sample of material, a team at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and ETH Zürich showed that it was possible to change the material’s magnetic properties on a scale of nanometres – essentially “writing” these magnetic properties into the sample in the same way as photolithography etches patterns onto wafers. The discovery could have applications for novel forms of computer memory as well as fundamental research. ..."

From the abstract:

"Across the fields of magnetism, microelectronics, optics, and others, engineered local variations in material properties can yield groundbreaking functionalities that play a crucial role in enabling future technologies.

One-dimensional lateral gradients in material properties give rise to a plethora of new effects in thin-film magnetic systems. However, extending such gradient-induced behaviors to two dimensions has been challenging to realize experimentally.

Here, we demonstrate the creation of two-dimensional complex patterns with continuous variations in magnetic anisotropy, interlayer exchange coupling, and ferrimagnetic compensation at the mesoscopic scale in numerous application-relevant magnetic materials. We exploit our engineered gradients in material properties to demonstrate novel magnetic functionalities, including the creation of a spin wave band pass filter and an architecture for passively resetting the position of a magnetic domain wall.

Our results highlight the exciting new physics and device applications enabled by two-dimensional gradients in thin film properties."

Shining laser light on a material produces subtle changes in its magnetic properties – Physics World

Laser draws made-to-order magnetic landscapes "Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado, have for the first time succeeded in using existing laser technology to continuously vary the magnetic properties of two-dimensional materials. This simple and fast method should make a large number of applications possible, including techniques for data storage and processing."

New Article on Direct-write Laser Patterning of Magnetic Landscapes (original news release)

Two-dimensional gradients in magnetic properties created with direct-write laser annealing (open access) "Patterning magnetic landscapes has recently emerged as a powerful avenue to achieve new functionalities in existing materials. In a recent publication from the Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems, two-dimensional complex patterns with continuous variations in magnetic anisotropy, interlayer exchange coupling, and ferrimagnetic compensation are created at the mesoscopic scale in numerous application-relevant magnetic materials."

Fig. 1: Heat-activated physical and chemical changes provided by DWLA and their impact on the magnetic properties. (direct-write laser annealing (DWLA))