Magneto-Thermoplasmonics

Both opto-electronics and spintronics are rapidly developing research areas for future sustainable and scalable information technologies with improved energy efficiency and processing speed. While photonic devices technologies use lasers for fast and high-bandwidth information transfer and processing, they are limited by their non-existent data retention and limited miniaturization to length scales to the order of the wavelength used, whereas magnetic devices offer non-volatility and are readily scaled to the nanoscale. 

Here, I propose to combine key ideas from the fields of photonics and magnetism to use optically controlled temperature distributions for immediate control of magnetic material properties such as anisotropy, saturation magnetization, and dynamic responses to enable novel applications. This approach, based on using thermoplasmonic particles as versatile light-activated nanoscale heaters [1], circumvents major disadvantages of contemporary heating methods for implementation in nanoscale devices, which are typically either slow or prone to damage, cannot be reconfigured nor reliably aligned with nanoscale magnetic features.

In this talk, I will introduce the basic concepts for the creation of hybrid magneto-thermoplasmonic devices [2,3]. I will discuss potential applications that might benefit from light-induced thermal remote control, and how I aim to implement these within my Future Leader Fellowship project at 含羞草视频.

References

[1] G. Baffou, Thermoplasmonics: Heating Metal Nanoparticles Using Light, Cambridge University Press (2017).

[2] M. Pancaldi, N. Leo, and P. Vavassori, Nanoscale 11, 7656 (2019).

[3] P. Gypens, N. Leo, M. Menniti, P. Vavassori, and J. Laliaert, Phys. Rev. Appl. 18, 024014 (2022).

Short Biography

After studying physics at Bonn University, Germany, Dr Naëmi Leo received her PhD at the end of 2014 from ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Her postdoctoral research career involved various fellowships and positions in Switzerland, Japan, Spain and Austria. Her research interests include emergent phenomena in frustrated bulk and artificial spin systems, as well as novel approaches to unconventional nanomagnetic computation.

In May 2024, she started as a UKRI Future Leader Fellow at 含羞草视频, UK, focusing on magneto-thermoplasmonic hybrid devices that allow for optical control of magnetic and spintronic properties driven by non-uniform temperature distributions.