Investigation of ultrafast demagnetization and cubic optical nonlinearity of Ni in the polar geometry

Femtosecond optical pump-probe experiments were performed upon a Ni(720 Angstrom)/Si(100) sample in the polar geometry with the pump beam close to normal incidence. A signal due to the ultrafast demagnetization effect was observed when the pump pulse was linearly polarized. When the pump was elliptically polarized, additional peaks were observed at zero time delay, resulting from the specular inverse Faraday effect (SIFE) and the specular optical Kerr effect (SOKE). By comparing measurements made with different pump helicities, the SIFE and SOKE peaks and the demagnetization signal were found to superpose in a linear fashion. From the dependence of the peak height upon the pump polarization, values of chi(xxyy)=(1-3i)x10(-10) rad cm(3) erg(-1) and chi(xyyx)=(-9+2i)x10(-12) rad cm(3) erg(-1) were deduced for the nonvanishing components of the local cubic susceptibility tensor. For applied fields less than the saturation value, the sudden reduction of the thin film demagnetizing field leads to an imbalance of the torques acting upon the magnetization, causing it to precess. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.