Ultrafast quenching of the antiferromagnetic order in FeBO3: direct optical probing of the phonon-magnon coupling.

The dynamics of the optically induced phase transition from the antiferromagnetic to the paramagnetic state in FeBO3 is observed using a pump-probe magneto-optical Faraday technique employing 100 fs laser pulses. At the pump energy of 1.55 eV phonon-assisted transitions dominate in the absorption of light and ultrafast heating of the lattice occurs. The quenching of the magnetic order is caused by an increase of the magnon temperature due to energy transfer from the heated lattice. The heating time of the magnon system is around 700 ps, which is a factor of 20 faster than previously reported phonon-magnon interaction times.