Real time temperature dynamics in exchange biased bilayers upon laser excitation

A hot spin and phonon gas in exchange biased metallic bilayers is induced by an 8.5 ps laser excitation. The spin-lattice temperature dynamics is sensed in real time by the time evolution of the exchange bias field on the picosecond timescale. A calibration with temperature dependent quasistatic Kerr measurements explains a pump pulse induced temperature increase of about 100°C at the interface. Upon photoexcitation the exchange coupling across the interface between the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layer is reduced within the first 10 ps, leading to a reduction of the bias field to about 50% of its initial value. The fast thermal unpinning of the exchange coupling is followed by a heat diffusion dominated recovery with a relaxation time on the order of 160 ps. A heat transport analysis reveals the diffusivity of the studied bilayer system.