Energy Efficient Single Pulse Switching of [Co/Gd/Pt]N Nanodisks Using Surface Lattice Resonances

Abstract

Abstract The impact of plasmonic surface lattice resonances on the magneto‐optical properties and energy absorption efficiency has been studied in arrays of [Co/Gd/Pt]N multilayer nanodisks. Varying the light wavelength, the disk diameter, and the period of the array, it is demonstrated that surface lattice resonances allow all‐optical single pulse switching of [Co/Gd/Pt]N nanodisk arrays with an energy 400% smaller than the energy needed to switch a continuous [Co/Gd/Pt]N film. Moreover, the magneto‐optical Faraday effect is enhanced at the resonance condition by up to 5,000%. The influence of the disk diameter and array period on the amplitude, width and position of the surface lattice resonances is in qualitative agreement with theoretical calculations and opens the way to designing magnetic metasurfaces for all‐optical magnetization switching applications.

Keywords

• all‐optical magnetization switching
• plasmonics
• surface lattice resonance
• ultrafast physics