Unraveling femtosecond spin and charge dynamics with extreme ultraviolet transverse MOKE spectroscopy

Abstract

The magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) regime has helped to elucidate some of the key processes that lead to the manipulation of magnetism on ultrafast timescales. However, as we show in this paper, the recently introduced spectrally resolved analysis of such data can lead to surprising experimental observations, which might cause misinterpretations. Therefore, an extended analysis of the EUV magneto-optics is necessary. Via experimental determination of the dielectric tensor, we find here that the nonequilibrium excitation in an ultrafast magnetization experiment can cause a rotation of the off-diagonal element of the dielectric tensor in the complex plane. In direct consequence, the commonly analyzed magneto-optic asymmetry may show time-dependent behavior that is not directly connected to the magnetic properties of the sample. We showcase such critical observations for the case of ultrafast magnetization dynamics in Ni, and give guidelines for the future analysis of spectrally resolved magneto-optical data and its comparison with theory.