Abstract

The interaction of light with magnetic matter is well known: magneto optical Faraday or Kerr effects are frequently used to probe the magnetic state of materials. or manipulate the polarisation of light .

The inverse effects are less known but certainly as fascinating: with light one can manipulate matter, for example orient their spins. Using femtosecond laser pulses we have recently demonstrated that one can thus generate ultrashort and very strong (~Tesla’s) magnetic field pulses that provide unprecedented means for the generation, manipulation and coherent control of magnetic order on very short time scales.