Ferromagnetic writing on B2 Fe50Rh50 thin films using ultra-short laser pulses

The chemically ordered B2 Fe50Rh50 alloy is antiferromagnetic. By inducing chemical disorder its structure can be changed to the ferromagnetic A2 structure. Following the laser writing method published here [1] we used a pulsed laser to induce ferromagnetism locally in Fe50Rh50 thin films of 10, 20, and 30nm thickness. XMCD measurements on the laser-treated region revealed the formation of an annulus of FM contrast and a non-FM center. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on a section through the annulus found the FM region to be A2 and the enclosed non-contrast region of the fcc A1 structure. The surrounding untreated region remained in the B2 structure.