Controlling magnetism at the nanoscale with metamaterials

Papasimakis, N., Atmatzakis, E., Tsiatmas, A., Fedotov, V.A., Luk'yanchuk, B., García de Abajo, F.J. and Zheludev, N.I. (2014) Controlling magnetism at the nanoscale with metamaterials. SPIE Photonics Europe '14, , Brussels, Belgium. 14 - 17 Apr 2014.

Abstract

Controlling magnetic fields at ever shorter time and length scales is important for both fundamental solid-state physics and technological applications such as spectroscopy, sensing, magnetic data recording. Here, we will present recent progress towards the generation and control of magnetic fields at the nanoscale. We will show that combining plasmonic and ferromagnetic metals in bimetallic nanorings leads to strong Kerr rotation enhancement. Moreover, when illuminated by femtosecond laser pulses, such arrays respond with transient thermoelectric currents of picosecond duration, which in turn induce Tesla-scale magnetic fields in the ring cavity. We will demonstrate that equivalent levels of confinement can be obtained at even higher frequencies by appealing to the deep sub-wavelength nature of plasmons in semi-metals, where strong, tunable magnetic response can be observed in electrically doped monolayers. Our results provide avenues to nanoscale magnetic fields and hold great potential for materials characterization, terahertz radiation generation, and data storage applications.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Author: N. Papasimakis

Author: N.I. Zheludev

Download statistics