Electrical characterization of all-optical helicity-dependent switching in ferromagnetic Hall crosses

We present an experimental study of all-optical helicity-dependent switching (AO-HDS) of ferromagnetic Pt/Co/Pt heterostructures with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The sample is patterned into a Hall cross and the AO-HDS is measured via the anomalous Hall effect. This all-electrical probing of the magnetization during AO-HDS enables a statistical quantification of the switching ratio for different laser parameters, such as the threshold power to achieve AO-HDS and the exposure time needed to reach complete switching at a given laser power. We find that the AO-HDS is a cumulative process, a certain number of optical pulses is needed to obtain a full and reproducible helicity-dependent switching. The deterministic switching of the ferromagnetic Pt/Co/Pt Hall cross provides a full opto-spintronic device, where the remanent magnetization can be all-optically and reproducibly written and erased without the need of an external magnetic field. (C) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC.