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Picosecond-scale coherent toggle switching of topological spin helicity

Nature Nanotechnology (2026)Cite this article

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Abstract

The switching of conventional magnetization states is a cornerstone of modern spintronics, enabling control over binary (‘0’ and ‘1’) information bits. Although the coherent control of helicity switching in topological spin configurations is promising for applications such as high-speed multistate memory and neuromorphic and probabilistic computing, realizing it has been challenging. This difficulty stems from the requirement for coherent spin precession while maintaining the intrinsic topology of the spin configurations, which is usually disrupted by conventional excitations. Here we report an experimental realization of coherent helicity toggle switching in nanoscale magnetic vortices occurring on timescales of several hundred picoseconds. This switching behaviour is driven by femtosecond laser pulse excitation under an out-of-plane magnetic field. The mechanism is governed by ultrafast photothermal demagnetization and coherent spin precession in the subsequent remagnetization process, during which the intrinsic topology and symmetry of the vortex are preserved. Crucially, the helicity switching dynamics can be tuned precisely using the laser fluence and magnetic field strength, enabling deterministic to stochastic control over the two energy-degenerate helicity states. This control was reproduced in micromagnetic simulations when the parameters were optimized within a physically reasonable range.

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Fig. 1: Bloch sphere representation of vortex states in a magnetic disk and corresponding energy maps.
Fig. 2: Magnetic-field-dependent vortex helicity switching under single-shot femtosecond laser pulse excitation.
Fig. 3: Dynamical model and micromagnetic simulations of field-dependent vortex helicity switching.
Fig. 4: Laser-fluence-dependent vortex helicity switching behaviour.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

X.F. acknowledges support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2020YFA0309300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (grant nos 92477130, 12127803 and 12427806), the 111 Project (grant no. B23045) and the ‘Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities’ from Nankai University (grant nos ZB22000104, DK2300010207, 63243194 and 9242000728). R.E.D.-B. acknowledges support from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant no. 856538). Z.H. acknowledges support from the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (grant no. 2023B1515020112) and the NSFC (grant nos 52322108 and 52271178). Z.L. acknowledges support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant nos 2024YFA1408000 and 2023YFA1507000), the NSFC (grant no. 12304146) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant nos 2023M741828 and 2024T170433). S.J. acknowledges support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2023YFB3307700) and the aeronautical Science Foundation (grant no. 202400540S6002). C.L. acknowledges support from Nankai University (grant no. 25NKSYJS04). W.H. acknowledges support from the NSFC (grant no. 12174427). This work was also supported by the Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facility (SECUF). Computations were supported by the Supercomputing Center of Nankai University.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Can Liu, Zefang Li, Xuange Hu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ultrafast Electron Microscopy Laboratory, The MOE Key Laboratory of Weak-Light Nonlinear Photonics, School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin, China

    Can Liu, Zefang Li, Xuange Hu, Jiangteng Guo, Yue Hu, Ying Deng, Haixue Wang, Shaozheng Ji, Cuntao Gao, Fang Liu & Xuewen Fu

  2. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology, Institute for Advanced Materials, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China

    Huai Zhang, Jun-Ming Liu & Zhipeng Hou

  3. Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Wei He

  4. Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, China

    Tengyu Guo

  5. Research Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan, China

    Shaohui Chen & Yangfan Hu

  6. Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grunberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany

    Peng-Han Lu & Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski

  7. Tianjin Key Lab for Rare Earth Materials and Applications, Smart Sensor Interdisciplinary Science Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, China

    Jinxiong Wu

  8. State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics and Frontiers Science Center for Nano-optoelectronics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Zhi-Min Liao

  9. Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Jun-Ming Liu

  10. International Quantum Academy, Shenzhen, China

    Dapeng Yu

  11. Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA

    Yimei Zhu

  12. Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Nankai University, Tianjin, China

    Xuewen Fu

  13. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Smart Sensing Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, China

    Xuewen Fu

Authors
  1. Can Liu
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  2. Zefang Li
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  3. Xuange Hu
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Contributions

X.F. conceived the research project. X.F. and C.L. performed the sample preparation. C.L., X.H. and X.F. carried out the in situ Lorentz transmission electron microscopy experiments. C.L., Z.L., X.H. and J.G. performed the experimental data analysis. W.H., T.G. and H.Z. performed the magnetometry measurements. Z.L. contributed to the theoretical model construction and numerical simulations. Z.L. and C.L. drafted the figures. Z.L., Z.H., C.L. and X.F. wrote the manuscript with input from Y.Z., R.E.D.-B. and D.Y. All authors contributed to the discussion and revision of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Dapeng Yu, Zhipeng Hou, Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski, Yimei Zhu or Xuewen Fu.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information (download PDF )

Supplementary Figs. 1–10, Tables 1 and 2, Discussion and Captions for Supplementary Videos 1–4.

Supplementary Video 1 (download MOV )

Analytical spin configuration of a magnetic vortex with evolution of the helicity angle Cπ/2.

Supplementary Video 2 (download MOV )

Experimental observations of three types of helicity switching behaviours (|δC | = 2, 1, 0) in a circular Py disk in out-of-plane magnetic fields of 87, 99 and 131 mT, in each case in the presence of femtosecond laser pulse excitation with a fluence of 19.5 mJ cm−2.

Supplementary Video 3 (download MP4 )

Simulations of the three types of helicity switching behaviours (|δC | = 2, 1, 0) in a circular Py disk in out-of-plane magnetic fields of 88, 100 and 126 mT, in each case in the presence of femtosecond laser pulse excitation with a fluence of 19.5 mJ cm−2. Top: 3D (left) and top-down (right) views of the vortex helicity distribution during switching. Middle: time evolution of the vortex helicity sin(Cπ/2). Bottom: trajectory of the vortex state on the Bloch sphere.

Supplementary Video 4 (download MP4 )

Simulations of alternative helicity switching behaviours in a circular Py disk in the presence of laser pulse excitation with fluences of 14.5, 16.3 and 19.5 mJ cm−2 in an out-of-plane magnetic field of 163 mT. Top: 3D (left) and top-down (right) views of the vortex helicity distribution during switching. Middle: time evolution of the vortex helicity sin(Cπ/2). Bottom: trajectory of the vortex state on the Bloch sphere.

Supplementary Data 1 (download XLSX )

Optical reflection and transmission spectra for the Py sample. Source data for Supplementary Fig. 1.

Supplementary Data 2 (download XLSX )

Time-resolved electron, spin and lattice temperatures calculated using the three-temperature model for different laser fluences, together with experimental measurements of the temperature-dependent saturation magnetization. Source data for Supplementary Fig. 2.

Supplementary Data 3 (download XLSX )

Experimental results showing the magnetic-field-dependent probabilities of three different helicity switching types at a laser fluence of 19.5 mJ cm−2. Source data for Supplementary Fig. 3.

Supplementary Data 4 (download XLSX )

Simulated Bloch-sphere trajectories of the vortex state at H = 88, 100, and 126 mT under a laser fluence of 19.5 mJ cm−2. Source data for Supplementary Fig. 4.

Supplementary Data 5 (download XLSX )

TR-MOKE experimental data for spin dynamics during coherent helicity non-switching in a magnetic vortex, together with reference measurements on a Py film under identical excitation conditions. Source data for Supplementary Fig. 5.

Supplementary Data 6 (download XLSX )

Experiments describing magnetic-field-dependent vortex helicity switching measured at laser fluences of 17.7 and 15.0 mJ cm−2. Source data for Supplementary Fig. 6.

Supplementary Data 7 (download XLSX )

Simulated magnetic-field-dependent vortex helicity switching at laser fluences of 17.7 and 15.0 mJ cm−2. Source data for Supplementary Fig. 7.

Supplementary Data 8 (download XLSX )

Corresponding time evolution of the spatially averaged magnetization m and its magnitude |m| for simulated laser fluences of 14.5, 16.3 and 19.5 mJ cm−2 in an out-of-plane magnetic field of H = 163 mT. Source data for Supplementary Fig. 8.

Supplementary Data 9 (download XLSX )

Simulation results showing laser-fluence-dependent vortex-state trajectories on the Bloch sphere for 14.5, 16.3 and 19.5 mJ cm−2 at a magnetic field of 163 mT. Source data for Supplementary Fig. 9.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1 (download XLSX )

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 2 (download XLSX )

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 3 (download XLSX )

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 4 (download XLSX )

Statistical source data.

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Liu, C., Li, Z., Hu, X. et al. Picosecond-scale coherent toggle switching of topological spin helicity. Nat. Nanotechnol. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-026-02142-z

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