Measuring the atomic spin-flip scattering rate by x-ray emission spectroscopy
- 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.
Author details: | Régis DeckerORCiD, Artur BornGND, Robby BüchnerORCiDGND, Kari RuotsalainenORCiD, Christian StråhlmanORCiD, Stefan Neppl, Robert HaverkampORCiD, Annette PietzschORCiD, Alexander FöhlischORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45242-8 |
ISSN: | 2045-2322 |
Pubmed ID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31222052 |
Title of parent work (English): | Scientific reports |
Publisher: | Nature Publ. Group |
Place of publishing: | London |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2019/06/20 |
Publication year: | 2019 |
Release date: | 2021/01/21 |
Volume: | 9 |
Number of pages: | 6 |
Funding institution: | ERC-ADG-2014 Advanced Investigator Grant under the Horizon 2020 EU Framework, Programme for Research and Innovation [669531 EDAX]; Helmholtz Virtual Institute [VI419] |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Physik und Astronomie |
DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 53 Physik / 530 Physik |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access / Gold Open-Access |
DOAJ gelistet | |
License (German): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |