Transient domain boundary drives ultrafast magnetisation reversal

Light-induced magnetisation switching is one of the most intriguing and promising areas where an ultrafast phenomenon can be utilised in technological applications. So far, experiment and theory have considered the origin of all-optical helicity-independent magnetisation switching (AO-HIS) in individual magnetic films only as a microscopically local, thermally-driven process of angular momentum transfer between different subsystems. Here, we demonstrate that this local picture is insufficient and that AO-HIS must also be regarded as a spatially inhomogeneous process along the depth within a few-nanometre thin magnetic layer. Two regions of opposite magnetisation directions are observed, separated by a highly mobile boundary, which propagates along the depth of a 9.4 nm thin Gd₂₅Co₇₅ alloy. The dynamics of this transient boundary determines the final magnetisation state as well as the speed of AO-HIS throughout the entire magnetic layer. The ability to understand the influence of nanoscale and transient inhomogeneities on ultrafast switching phenomena and more generally on phase transitions will open new routes for material design and excitation scenarios in future devices for transferring and storing information.