Investigation of spin dynamics in hybrid structures based on ferromagnetic semi- conductor (Ga,Mn)As Abstract: This dissertation deals with the study of hybrid ferromagnet/semiconductor structures, which are of particular for spintronics. We focused on heterostructures that contain ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As, which is the most studied model ma- terial from the group of diluted magnetic semiconductors. The main goal of this work was a detailed study of the Optical Spin Transfer Torque (OSTT) phenomenon, which is an optical equivalent of the STT effect, which is used in ferromagnetic metal layers for non-thermal switching of the direction of magnetization. In the first part of the work, we describe experiments aimed at achieving non-thermal control of the direction of mag- netization in (Ga,Mn)As with the contribution of control of magnetic anisotropy using mechanical strain induced by a piezo-transducer (PZT) in hybrid structure (Ga,Mn)As/GaAs/PZT. For this purpose, the preparation of the structure was first opti- mized, which was tested in detail by means of X-ray diffraction and magneto-optical methods. However, we were unable to achieve magnetization switching due to the OSTT phenomenon. In addition, we found that the results measured at low temperature are very poorly reproducible, despite...

David Wagenknecht: Abstract of a diploma thesis Optical response of magnetic materials, 2014 Magnetooptical properties of anisotropic semiconductors are studied to describe asymmetry of Ga1−xMnxAs, because theoretical calculations predict extraordinary behaviour of reflectivity. Analytical formulae to describe materials with non-diagonal permittivity are derived and they are used for the numerical calculations to describe the optical response of the samples available for the measurement. The transversal Kerr effect is calculated and it exhibits asymmetry in both rotation of the plane of polarization and ellipticity of circularly polarized light due to asymmetry in reflectivity. Moreover, longitudinal and polar magnetization are studied because of the influence on the observability of the phenomena. Results are not only used to discuss conditions, which must be satisfied to prove the asymmetry, but also the actual experimental setup is designed to prepare the measurement. 1

Title: Investigation of spin structure and dynamics in magnetically ordered thin films Author: Tomáš Janda Abstract: This thesis is devoted to the development of methods for imaging and ultrafast manipulation of magnetic textures, such as magnetic domains and domain walls (DWs), and to the investigation of the corresponding magnetiza- tion dynamics. We focused on techniques that are, besides ferromagnets (FMs), applicable also to antiferromagnets (AFs), in particular, AF thin films. The employed excitation techniques were mostly based on direct or indirect effects of ultrashort laser pulses. We studied the DW motion induced by a transfer of angular momentum from circularly polarized femtosecond laser pulses in a FM GaMnAsP and we found that the observed macroscopic DW displacement is only possible due to its inertia. In a distinct experiment, picosecond current pulses were generated by an absorption of the ultrashort laser pulses in a verti- cal PIN diode-based photoconductive switch and used to excite a magnetic film deposited directly on top of the diode. For imaging of AF domain patterns, we developed a simple table-top laser-scanning technique, which is based on a magneto-thermoelectric response of the AF textures in the presence of a local laser-induced heating. We first used the method to image the...

The main objective of the thesis was to construct a wide-field Kerr microscope to study all-optical helicity-dependent (AOHDS) switching in FePt nanograins. The wide- field Kerr microscope was successfully implemented into AOHDS experiments, was fully characterized and optimized for maximum image contrast. The real-time imaging and resolution of 2, 5µm enables the study of a wide range of magnetic materials and their dynamics. Moreover, a new light source, the High Lumen Density MODULE from CRY- TUR, spol. s r.o., was tested for future application in Kerr microscopy. The technical solution enabled to form a collimated beam with low divergence required for Kerr mi- croscopy. From the switching experiments on FePt nanograins, we observed a strong non-magnetic contribution to the magnetic signal, not reported in previous works. The experiments have also shown that the switching intensity depends on the laser spot size and total laser power, suggesting that the FePt grains are not entirely isolated. The grains' ensemble exhibits a more complex behavior than anticipated. 1

The spin transport and dynamics of optically injected spin polarized carri- ers are studied with a high spatial and/or time resolution in semiconductor GaAs-based heterostructures in multiple transport regimes. An unexpectedly long-scale and high-speed spin diffusion transport is observed in a long-lived electron sub-system induced optically at an undoped single GaAs/AlGaAs heterointerface. A diffusion and drift-dominated spin transport is investi- gated using an electrical spin-detection via the inverse spin Hall effect in doped GaAs-based systems at room and low temperatures. It is shown that the inverse spin Hall signal and the spin transport parameters can be con- trolled by a direct application of an electric field or by expanding a depleted zone of a planar pn-junction.