Non-destructive Ultrafast Steering of Magnetic Vortex by Terahertz Pulses

Abstract

Electric control of magnetic vortex dynamics in a reproducible way and on an ultrafast time scale is key element in the quest for efficient spintronic devices with low-energy consumption. To be useful the control scheme should ideally be swift, scalable, non-invasive, and resulting in reliable magnetic switching. Such requirements and in particular the reproducibility of altering the vortex chirality and/or polarity are not yet met by magnetic vortex switching via external magnetic fields, spin-polarized currents, spin waves, or laser pulses. Here we demonstrate a novel packaged-skyrmion mediated vortex switching process driven by a simple sequence of picosecond electrical field pulses via magneto-electric interactions. Both the vortex chirality and polarity show a well-defined reversal behaviour. The unambiguously repeated switching between four different magnetic vortex states provides an energy-efficient, highly localized and coherent control method for non-volatile magnetic vortex-based information storage and handling.