All-Optical Control of Bubble and Skyrmion Breathing

Controlling the dynamics of topologically protected spin objects by all-optical means promises enormous potential for future spintronic applications. Excitation of bubbles and skyrmions in ferrimagnetic [Fe(0.35 nm)/Gd(0.40 nm)]_{160} multilayers by ultrashort laser pulses leads to a periodic modulation of the core diameter of these spin objects, the so-called breathing mode. We demonstrate versatile amplitude and phase control of this breathing using a double excitation scheme, where the observed dynamics is controlled by the excitation delay. We gain insight into both the timescale on which the breathing mode is launched and the role of the spin object size on the dynamics. Our results demonstrate that ultrafast optical excitation allows for precise tuning of the spin dynamics of trivial and nontrivial spin objects, showing a possible control strategy in device applications.