Transient grating-induced phase inhomogeneity in FeRh studied by time-resolved hard x-ray nanodiffraction

POSTER

Abstract

The photo-induced antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic phase transition of FeRh at room temperature has important technological applications in the magnetic recording industry. This first-order phase transition is accompanied by a large, abrupt lattice expansion. In this study, spatially periodic phase modulation in a FeRh thin film was induced by an optical transient grating; the temporal and spatial evolution of the resulting lattice profile was probed by ultrafast hard x-ray nanodiffraction. We found that the transient grating induced lattice profile deviates from the initial sinusoidal spatial modulation during the recovery process, which allows us to quantitatively measure the in-plane propagation of the phase boundary.

Authors

  • Yi Zhu

    Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab, Argonne National Lab

  • Qingteng Zhang

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison

  • Pice Chen

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison

  • D.A. Walko

    Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab, Argonne National Lab

  • E.M. Dufresne

    Argonne National Lab

  • J.U. Thiele

    Seagate Technology

  • E.E. Fullerton

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego

  • Zhonghou Cai

    Argonne National Lab

  • Paul Evans

    Univ of Wisconsin, Madison, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, University of Wisconsin - Madison

  • Haidan Wen

    Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab, Argonne National Lab