TY  - JOUR
A1  - Decker, Régis
A1  - Born, Artur
A1  - Büchner, Robby
A1  - Ruotsalainen, Kari
A1  - Stråhlman, Christian
A1  - Neppl, Stefan
A1  - Haverkamp, Robert
A1  - Pietzsch, Annette
A1  - Föhlisch, Alexander
T1  - Measuring the atomic spin-flip scattering rate by x-ray emission spectroscopy
JF  - Scientific reports
N2  - While extensive work has been dedicated to the measurement of the demagnetization time following an ultra-short laser pulse, experimental studies of its underlying microscopic mechanisms are still scarce. In transition metal ferromagnets, one of the main mechanism is the spin-flip of conduction electrons driven by electron-phonon scattering. Here, we present an original experimental method to monitor the electron-phonon mediated spin-flip scattering rate in nickel through the stringent atomic symmetry selection rules of x-ray emission spectroscopy. Increasing the phonon population leads to a waning of the 3d -> 2p(3/2) decay peak intensity, which reflects an increase of the angular momentum transfer scattering rate attributed to spin-flip. We find a spin relaxation time scale in the order of 50 fs in the 3d-band of nickel at room temperature, while consistantly, no such peak evolution is observed for the diamagnetic counterexample copper, using the same method.
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45242-8
SN  - 2045-2322
VL  - 9
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  -