Optical control of 4f orbital state in rare-earth metals
Abstract
A change of orbital state alters the coupling between ions and their surroundings drastically. Orbital excitations are hence key to understand and control interaction of ions. Rare-earth (RE) elements with strong magneto-crystalline anisotropy (MCA) are important ingredients for magnetic devices. Thus, control of their localized 4f magnetic moments and anisotropy is one major challenge in ultrafast spin physics. With time-resolved X-ray absorption and resonant inelastic scattering experiments, we show for Tb metal that 4f-electronic excitations out of the ground state multiplet occur after optical pumping. These excitations are driven by inelastic 5d-4f-electron scattering, alter the 4f-orbital state and consequently the MCA with important implications for magnetization dynamics in 4f-metals, and more general for the excitation of localized electronic states in correlated materials.
- Publication:
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arXiv e-prints
- Pub Date:
- June 2021
- DOI:
- 10.48550/arXiv.2106.09999
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2106.09999
- Bibcode:
- 2021arXiv210609999T
- Keywords:
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- Condensed Matter - Materials Science
- E-Print:
- Manuscript (23 pages, 5 figures) and Supplementary Information (32 pages, 10 figures)