All-optical switching: Three rules of design

By following three empirical rules it is possible to design and fabricate magnetic heterostructures or even devices whose magnetization can be controlled by means of circularly polarized femtosecond laser pulses, instead of applied magnetic fields. Kimel comments on a study by Mangin et al in which they demonstrated a general strategy for designing and fabricating magnetic heterostructures for which it is possible to control their magnetizations by means of circularly polarized femtosecond laser pulses instead of pulses of magnetic field.