Prof. dr. Andrei Kirilyuk

My main interest lies in the new direction of magnetization dynamics and switching driven by the intense infrared radiation from the free-electron-laser FELIX. The employed frequency range covers all phononic and several spin resonances in solids. Our laboratory uses several cutting edge time-resolved experimental techniques, including cavity-dumping of one of the FELs to create exceptionally strong IR-range pulses for excitation.

Among the scientific successes one should mention observation of highly-nonlinear AFM resonance, excited with FELIX radiation in magnetic fields up to 33 Tesla (Res. Phys. 2024); discovery of ultrafast phononic switching in magnetic dielectrics (Nat. Phys. 2021); discovery of magnetization reversal driven by chiral phonons in a substrate (Nature 2024); discovery of self-organization of magnon-polaron quasiparticles (Nat. Comm. 2023).

Very recent results moreover demonstrate that also antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric (Nat. Phot. 2024) materials can be manipulated by the same phononic-like mechanism, thus creating the basis of our research programme.