Thermal Modulation of Magnetization Dynamics in Nanometer-Thick L10‑FePt Nanogranular and Continuous Films for High-Density Magnetic Recording Media

Thermal modulation of magnetism in magnetic recording media is a novel technique to increase the recording density. L10-FePt is a promising material for the media; however, experimental observation of its magnetization dynamics characterized by the Gilbert damping constant α is technically difficult because the dynamics is in the terahertz (THz) frequency range. A cutting edge technique in THz spintronics, an all-optical pump–probe method, leads us to achieve the detection of THz magnetization dynamics in nanometer-scale thin films with thermal heating. Here, thermal modulation of the magnetization dynamics for L10-FePt nanogranular and continuous films is discussed using the all-optical method. The effective damping constant for the nanogranular film decreased from 0.18 to 0.064 with increasing the temperature, and the thermal modulation decreased the extrinsic contribution, while this increased α above 530 K. This observation regarding the thermal modulation of the magnetic damping is valuable to design future high-density magnetic recording media.