Attosecond-Resolved Spin-Resolved Photoemission Electron Microscopy

While Chew discusses photoemission electron microscopy for nanoscale imaging, and Xu et al. review ultrafast spin dynamics, these capabilities haven't been integrated with attosecond resolution. This research would develop attosecond spin-resolved PEEM to directly visualize how spin configurations evolve during processes like ultrafast demagnetization that Xu et al. describe as "unclear." The key innovation is using attosecond X-ray pulses (like those from Funke et al.) with spin-filtering detection in a PEEM setup, potentially resolving the fundamental debates about femtosecond magnetism mechanisms that Xu et al. highlight as unresolved. This could finally answer whether spin-orbit coupling, superdiffusive spin currents, or other mechanisms dominate on the intrinsic timescale of electrons, with both spatial and spin resolution.

References:

1. Capturing Nonlinear Electron Dynamics with Fully Characterised Attosecond X-ray Pulses. Lars Funke, M. Ilchen, Kristina Dingel, T. Mazza, Terence Mullins, T. Otto, D. Rivas, S. Savio, S. Serkez, Peter Walter, Niclas Wieland, Lasse Wulfing, S. Bari, R. Boll, M. Braune, F. Calegari, A. D. Fanis, W. Decking, A. Duensing, S. Dusterer, Felix Egun, Arno Ehresmann, B. Erk, Danilo Enoque Ferreira de Lima, A. Galler, G. Geloni, Jan Grunert, M. Guetg, P. Grychtol, A. Hans, A. Held, Ruda Hindriksson, T. Jahnke, J. Laksman, Mats Larsson, Jia Liu, J. Marangos, L. Marder, David Meier, M. Meyer, N. Mirian, C. Ott, Christopher Passow, T. Pfeifer, P. Rupprecht, A. Schletter, Philipp Schmidt, Frank Scholz, Simon Schott, E. Schneidmiller, B. Sick, K. Tiedtke, S. Usenko, V. Wanie, Markus Wurzer, M. Yurkov, V. Zhaunerchyk, W. Helml (2024).
2. The ultrafast spin dynamics: From femtosecond magnetism to attosecond magnetism. Yang Xu, Feng Hong-Mei, Liu Jia-Nan, Zhang Xiang-Qun, He Wei, Cheng Zhao-hua (2024). Acta Physica Sinica.
3. Photoemission electron microscopy for nanoscale imaging and attosecond control of light-matter interaction at metal surfaces. S. H. Chew (2018).