The effect of interfacial intermixing on magnetization switching in Tb/Fe multilayers

Abstract

Femtosecond-laser–induced magnetization reversal triggered by linearly polarized light has been widely explored in alloys and thin-film systems. To further exploit interfacial effects, we employ a semiclassical atomistic spin dynamics model to investigate Tb/Fe multilayers with regularly mixed interfacial layers. Our results reveal that interfacial mixing not only facilitates magnetization switching and accelerates the associated dynamics, but also enables reversal under low energy density. We find that both interfacial mixing and the number of interfaces in the Tb/Fe multilayers play beneficial roles for triggering thermally induced magnetization switching. These insights underscore the crucial role of engineered interfacial mixing in enhancing all-optical magnetization switching, offering design methods for ultrafast, energy-efficient magnetic storage devices.