Ultrafast magnetic vortex core switching driven by topological inverse Faraday effect

We present a theoretical discovery of an unconventional mechanism of inverse Faraday effect (IFE) which acts selectively on topological magnetic structures. The effect, topological inverse Faraday effect (TIFE), is induced by spin Berry’s phase of the magnetic structure when a circularly polarized light is applied. Thus a spin-orbit interaction is not necessary unlike in the conventional IFE. We demonstrate by numerical simulation that TIFE realizes ultrafast switching of a magnetic vortex within a switching time of 150 ps without magnetic field.