The influence of photon angular momentum on ultrafast spin dynamics in Nickel

Abstract

The role of photon angular momentum in laser-induced demagnetization of Nickel thin films is investigated by means of pump-probe time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect in the polar geometry. The recorded data display a strong dependency on pump helicity during pump-probe temporal overlap, which is shown to be of non-magnetic origin. By accurately fitting the demagnetization curves we also show that demagnetization time and electron-phonon equilibration time are not affected by pump-helicity. Thereby our results do not support direct transfer of angular momentum between photons and spins to be relevant for the demagnetization process. This suggests, in agreement with the microscopic model that we recently presented, that the source of angular momentum could be phonons or impurities rather than laser photons as required in the microscopic model proposed by Zhang and Huebner.