  Perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions are one of the building blocks for
spintronic memories, which allow fast nonvolatile data access, offering
substantial potentials to revolutionize the mainstream computing architecture.
However, conventional switching mechanisms of such devices are fundamentally
hindered by spin polarized currents4, either spin transfer torque or spin orbit
torque with spin precession time limitation and excessive power dissipation.
These physical constraints significantly stimulate the advancement of modern
spintronics. Here, we report an optomagnetic tunnel junction using a
spintronic-photonic combination. This composite device incorporates an
all-optically switchable Co/Gd bilayer coupled to a CoFeB/MgO-based
perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction by the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida
interaction. A picosecond all-optical operation of the optomagnetic tunnel
junction is explicitly confirmed by time-resolved measurements. Moreover, the
device shows a considerable tunnel magnetoresistance and thermal stability.
This proof-of-concept device represents an essential step towards ultrafast
spintronic memories with THz data access, as well as ultralow power
consumption.
