Total polarization conversion in a two-dimensional electron system under cyclotron polariton resonance conditions

Abstract

The polarisation conversion of a linear polarised electromagnetic wave incident onto a two-dimensional (2D) electron system at an angle is theoretically studied. We consider the 2D system located at the interface between two dielectric media with different dielectric constants. An external dc magnetic field is assumed to be directed along the normal to the 2D electron layer. In such a configuration the cyclotron-polaritons (CPs) in 2D electron system can be excited with the frequencies in the vicinity of the cyclotron frequency. Under the CPs excitation the resonance polarisation conversion of electromagnetic wave greatly increases in the system. In the absence of the electron scattering in 2D system, the polarisation conversion reaches 100% at a certain value of the angle of incidence which is more than the total reflection angle. Extremely high polarisation conversion takes place in a quite wide range of variation of the angle of incidence. High polarisation conversion efficiency (above 80%) remains when the actual electron scattering in the 2D system on GsAs is taken into account. The considered phenomena may be taken up in polarisation spectroscopy of 2D electron systems.