PhD Studentship: Deterministic Recording via All-optical Magnetic Switching

Overview

This studentship focuses on controlling the magnetic state of a material using only pulses of light. Because magnets are typically opaque, light normally affects only the atom layers closest to the surface, meaning the magnet must be sufficiently thin. While light interacts strongly with electron charge, its interaction with electron spin is weak, so two principal strategies will be explored using multi-layered thin film structures to transfer electrons with aligned spins between layers without a net charge transfer.

In the first approach, trilayers consisting of two ferromagnetic layers separated by a non-magnetic metal layer will be studied. Excitation by a laser pulse heats the ferromagnetic layers, decreases their magnetization, and drives a spin current into the non-magnetic metal layer. The layers are designed so that one demagnetizes more strongly than the other, creating a net spin current to switch the magnetization of the first layer into a desired state. In the second approach, a ferromagnetic layer adjoins a non-light and heavy metal bilayer where circularly polarized light induces electron motion, converting orbital angular momentum into spin angular momentum to control magnetization orientation.

What you get

The studentship provides funding for tuition fees and an annual stipend of £21,805 for the 2026/7 academic year.

Key dates

The closing date for applications is 2026-12-08.