Abstract
Abstract Spintronics and Photonics constitute separately two disciplines of huge scientific and technological impact. Exploring their conceptual and practical overlap offers vast possibilities of research and a clear scope for the corresponding communities to merge and consider innovative ideas taking advantage of each other’s potentials. As an example, here we review the magnetic field modification of the optical response of photonic systems fabricated out of spintronic materials, or in which spintronic components are incorporated. This magnetic actuation is due to the Magneto Refractive Effect (MRE), which accounts for the change in the optical constants of a spintronic system due to the magnetic field induced modification of the electrical resistivity. Due to the direct implication of conduction electrons in this phenomenon, this change in the optical constants covers from the mid-infrared to the THz regime. After introducing the non-expert reader into the spintronic concepts relevant to this work, we then present the MRE exhibited by a variety of spintronic systems, and finally show the different applications of this property in the generation of active spintronic-photonic platforms.
Highlights
The combination of different disciplines that merge to generate added value materials and novel phenomena is a powerful route to face nowadays technological demands of the society
Spintronics and Photonics are two fields with tremendous impact in our current lives, with concepts derived from them existing in a wide variety of practical applications
The purpose of this work has been to compile the up-to-date efforts to explore the common spaces for interaction between these two disciplines and in particular how Photonics may benefit from the Spintronics-related structures and phenomena
Summary
The combination of different disciplines that merge to generate added value materials and novel phenomena is a powerful route to face nowadays technological demands of the society. The so-called magneto photonic crystal structures allow a strong miniaturization of Magneto Optical (MO) components, with applications in information and communication technologies [1] Another example is the case of Magneto Plasmonic (MP) systems, which combine MO and plasmonic materials, exploiting the synergy of their corresponding functionalities. The MO activity of most materials is strongly reduced in the infrared (IR) and lower energies and, if the magnetic field action is desired to modulate nanophotonic platforms in this spectral range, a different magnetic mechanism is needed Enough, this mechanism is at hand and is linked to the discipline that has been responsible, for example, of the exponential increase in the last decades in magnetic storage capabilities in hard disk drives (HDD) heads. With the main conclusions and the potential perspectives of this novel approach
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