Optical generation of intense ultrashort magnetic pulses at the nanoscale

• Main Authors: Tsiatmas, Anagnostis, Atmatzakis, Evangelos, Papasimakis, Nikitas, Fedotov, Vassili, Luk'yanchuk, Boris, Zheludev, Nikolay I., Javier García de Abajo, F.
• Other Authors: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Physics
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102072; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/18831
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Generating, controlling and sensing strong magnetic fields at ever shorter time and length scales is important for both fundamental solid-state physics and technological applications such as magnetic data recording. Here, we propose a scheme for producing strong ultrashort magnetic pulses localized at the nanoscale. We show that a bimetallic nanoring illuminated by femtosecond laser pulses responds with transient thermoelectric currents of picosecond duration, which in turn induce Tesla-scale magnetic fields in the ring cavity. Our method provides a practical way of generating intense nanoscale magnetic fields with great potential for materials characterization, terahertz radiation generation and data storage applications.