Origins of Electromagnetic Radiation from Spintronic THz Emitters Unraveled by Time-Dependent Quantum Calculations Combined with Jefimenko Equations

Microscopic origins of charge currents and electromagnetic (EM) radiation generated by them in spintronic THz emitters [1]—such as, femtosecond laser pulse-driven single magnetic layer or its heterostructures with a nonmagnetic layer hosting strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC)—remain poorly understood despite nearly three decades since the discovery of ultrafast demagnetization. We introduced [2] a first-principles method to compute these quantities, where the dynamics of charge and current densities is obtained from real-time time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), which are then fed into the Jefimenko equations for properly retarded electric and magnetic field solutions of the Maxwell equations. By Fourier transforming different time-dependent terms in the Jefimenko equations, we unravel that in 0.1–30 THz range the electric field of far-field EM radiation by Ni layer, chosen as an example, is dominated by charge current pumped by demagnetization, while often invoked magnetic dipole radiation from time-dependent magnetization of a single magnetic layer is a negligible effect. Such an overlooked case of charge current pumping by time-dependent quantum system, whose magnetization is shrinking while its vector does not rotate, does not require any spin-to-charge conversion via SOC effects. In Ni/Pt bilayer, EM radiation remains dominated by charge current within Ni layer, whose magnitude is larger than in the case of single Ni layer due to faster demagnetization, while often invoked spin-to-charge conversion within Pt layer provides additional but smaller contribution. By using the Poynting vector and its flux, we also quantify efficiency of conversion of light into emitted EM radiation, as well as the angular distribution of the latter. While TDDFT treats a closed quantum system, realistic experimental setups are always open systems, which ensures that currents eventually decay to zero. We can open them by coupling magnetic multilayer to bosonic dissipative environment (as provided by phonons) [3] or fermionic reservoirs [4], which will be illustrated by the Lindblad quantum master equation or time-dependent nonequilibrium Green's functions combined with Jefimenko equations.<br/><br/>[1] T. Seifert et al., Nat. Photonics 10, 483 (2016).<br/>[2] A. Kefayati and B. K. Nikolić, https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.04476 (2023).<br/>[3] A. Suresh and B. K. Nikolić, Phys. Rev. B 107, 174421 (2023).<br/>[4] J. Varela-Manjarres, A. Kefayati, M. B. Jungfleisch, J. Q. Xiao, and B. K. Nikolić, , arXiv:2404.00779 (2024).