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Active magneto-plasmonics in hybrid metal–ferromagnet structures

Nature Photonics volume 4, pages 107–111 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Surface-plasmon-mediated confinement of optical fields holds great promise for on-chip miniaturization of all-optical circuits1,2,3,4. Following successful demonstrations of passive nanoplasmonic devices5,6,7, active plasmonic systems have been designed to control plasmon propagation. This goal has been achieved either by coupling plasmons to optically active materials8,9,10,11,12,13 or by making use of transient optical nonlinearities in metals via strong excitation with ultrashort laser pulses14,15,16,17. Here, we present a new concept in which the active optical component is a metal–ferromagnet–metal structure. It is based on active magneto-plasmonic microinterferometry, where the surface plasmon wave vector in a gold–ferromagnet–gold trilayer system is controlled using a weak external magnetic field. Application of this new technique allows measurement of the electromagnetic field distribution inside a metal at optical frequencies and with nanometre depth resolution. Significant modulation depth combined with possible all-optical magnetization reversal induced by femtosecond light pulses18 opens a route to ultrafast magneto-plasmonic switching.

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Figure 1: Active magneto-plasmonic interferometry.
Figure 2: Magneto-plasmonic interferograms in tilted slit–groove microinterferometers.
Figure 3: Magnetization switching of the magneto-plasmonic signal.
Figure 4: Probing the electromagnetic field inside the gold layer.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Network of Excellence PhOREMOST, EU (NMP3-SL-2008-214107-Nanomagma), Spanish MICINN (‘FUNCOAT’ CONSOLIDER INGENIO 2010 CSD2008-00023 and ‘MAGPLAS’ MAT2008-06765-C02-01/NAN) CM (‘NANOMAGNET’ S-0505/MAT/0194, ‘MICROSERES’ S-0505/TIC/0191), The German Research Foundation (DFG TE770/1). We also thank J.L. Costa-Krämer for the Transverse Kerr loop measurement and K. Nelson for stimulating discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Vasily V. Temnov

  2. Instituto de Microelectrónica de Madrid-IMM (CNM-CSIC), 28760 Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain

    Gaspar Armelles, Alfonso Cebollada, Antonio Garcia-Martin & Jose-Miguel Garcia-Martin

  3. Institut für Optik und Atomare Physik, TU Berlin, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, Berlin, 10632, Germany

    Ulrike Woggon

  4. Yanka Kupala Grodno State University, Grodno, 230023, Belarus

    Dmitry Guzatov

  5. Department of Physics and Center for Applied Photonics, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, D-78457, Germany

    Tim Thomay, Alfred Leitenstorfer & Rudolf Bratschitsch

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  1. Vasily V. Temnov
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Contributions

V.T., U.W., G.A. and A.C. wrote the proposal. V.T., U.W., G.A., A.C., A.G.M. and J.M.G.M. conceived and designed the experiments. G.A., A.C., A.G.M., J.M.G.M., T.T., A.L. and R.B. prepared and characterized the samples. A.C., D.G., A.G.M., T.T., A.L. and R.B. contributed materials and analysis tools. V.T. and G.A. performed the measurements and analysed the data. G.A., A.G.M., D.G. and V.T. carried out theoretical calculations. All authors wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Vasily V. Temnov.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Temnov, V., Armelles, G., Woggon, U. et al. Active magneto-plasmonics in hybrid metal–ferromagnet structures. Nature Photon 4, 107–111 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2009.265

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