Ultrafast dynamical path for the switching of a ferrimagnet after femtosecond heating

Ultrafast laser-induced magnetic switching in rare earth-transition metal ferrimagnetic alloys has recently been reported to occur by ultrafast heating alone. Using atomistic simulations and a ferrimagnetic Landau-Lifshitz-Bloch formalism, we demonstrate that for switching to occur it is necessary that angular momentum is transferred from the longitudinal to transverse magnetization components in the transition metal. This dynamical path leads to the transfer of the angular momentum to the rare earth metal and magnetization switching with subsequent ultrafast precession caused by the intersublattice exchange field on the atomic scale. © 2013 American Physical Society