Stanciu and F. Hansteen and published in Physical Review Letters,[1][2] this effect is generally called all-optical magnetization reversal.
In fact, this process could be seen as similar to magnetization reversal by spin injection (see also spintronics).
Although experimentally demonstrated, the mechanism responsible for this all-optical magnetization reversal is not clear yet and remains a subject of debate.
Thus, it is not yet clear whether an Inverse Einstein–de Haas effect[3][4] is responsible for this switching or a stimulated Raman-like coherent optical scattering process.
Early studies in plasmas,[5] paramagnetic solids,[4] dielectric magnetic materials[6][7] and ferromagnetic semiconductors[8] demonstrated that excitation of a medium with a circularly polarized laser pulse corresponds to the action of an effective magnetic field.