Faraday effect in cubic semiconductors with nonquadratic energy surfaces

Abstract

Expressions for the free carrier Faraday rotation and ellipticity are presented for p type cubic semiconductors with nonquadratic energy surfaces. At microwave frequencies, and in the limit of weak magnetic field strengths and small losses, the expressions are found to be sensitive to the extent to which the valence bands are warped. In addition, it is found that ionized impurity scattering affects the ellipticity more so than the rotation.