How can spintronic components be addressed simply and specifically with light? The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the Interdisciplinary Center for Nanosciences Marseille (CINaM) are looking for answers to this question in the joint research project Nano-PLASMAG from April 2024. The focus is on nanometer-sized, regularly shaped cubes of pure gold produced by chemical means. They are intended to serve as a kind of interpreter and couple light as effectively as possible to nanomagnets in order to influence their state. Magnetic excitations in spintronic materials can only be influenced very inefficiently by light. An intermediate instance is therefore needed to convert the light into other excitation states, which can then ultimately "talk" to the magnetic system. In the Nano-PLASMAG project, small gold cubes are to take over this function. They are placed on a thin magnetic layer. When light falls on them, the nano-cubes enter into a kind of quantum resonance in which the conduction electrons in them vibrate collectively and thus absorb the light particularly effectively. This effective light absorption can have two consequences: Firstly, the cubes heat up due to the friction of the electron oscillations, and secondly, the oscillation of the charged particles generates a time-dependent electromagnetic field, which can be used to specifically manipulate existing excitation states in the thin magnetic layer. To test their hypotheses, the experts are planning various experiments over the next three years, in particular at the HZDR's TELBE facility at the ELBE Center for High Power Radiation Sources
