Magneto-optical Research Articles

Observation of terahertz-induced dynamical spin canting in orthoferrite magnon by magnetorefractive probing

Intense terahertz pulses offer unique pathway to resonantly drive the correlated spin systems up to the nonlinear regime. However, detection of such nonlinear spin dynamics often suffers from the small signal amplitude that can be easily hindered by the linear background components. In order to efficiently extract the nonlinear signals, here we demonstrate that magnetooptical effect can be utilized. We excite spin precession in orthoferrite YFeO3 by the magnetic field of intense terahertz pulse and probe its dynamics by transient transmissivity change in the near infrared. The observed waveforms contain quasi-ferromagnetic-mode magnon oscillation and its second harmonics with a comparably strong amplitude. The result can be explained by dielectric function derived from magnetorefractive Hamiltonian. We reveal that the strong second harmonic signal microscopically originates from the dynamics of the quasi-ferromagnetic mode magnon at nonlinear regime, wherein spin canting angle periodically oscillates.

Strong Ferromagnetic Manipulation of SrTiO3 from CO2 -Straining Effect on Electronic Structure Modulation.

2D magnetic materials are ideal to fabricate magneto-optical, magneto-electric, and data storage devices, which are proposed to be critical to the next generation of information technologies. Benefited from their labile structures, 2D perovskites are amenable for magnetic manipulation through structural optimization. In this work, 2D room-temperature ferromagnetic SrTiO3 is achieved through straining effect induced by supercritical carbon dioxide (SC CO2 ). According to experimental results, the cubic phase of SrTiO3 is converted to tetragonal with exposure of (110), (200), (111), and (211) planes over the SC CO2 treatment, leading to significant ferromagnetic enhancement. Theoretical calculations illustrate that over the conversion from cubic to tetragonal, the electronic structure of SrTiO3 is significantly modulated. Specifically, the spin density of planes of (200), (111), and (211) is enhanced, presumably due to the stabilization of the highest occupied molecular orbital over straining by SC CO2 , leading to magnetic optimizations. This work suggests that magnetic optimization can be achieved from SC CO2 -induced electronic structure modulation.

Evidence for the Operation of the Hanle and Magneto-optical Effects in the Scattering Polarization Signals Observed by CLASP2 across the Mg ii h and k Lines

Radiative transfer investigations of the solar Mg ii h and k resonance lines around 280 nm have shown that, while their circular polarization (Stokes V) signals arise from the Zeeman effect, the linear polarization profiles (Stokes Q and U) are dominated by the scattering of anisotropic radiation and the Hanle and magneto-optical (MO) effects. Using the unprecedented observations of the Mg ii and Mn i resonance lines obtained by the Chromospheric LAyer Spectro-Polarimeter (CLASP2), here we investigate how the linear polarization signals at different wavelengths (i.e., at the center, and at the near and far wings of the k line) vary with the longitudinal component of the magnetic field (B L ) at their approximate height of formation. The B L is estimated from the V signals in the aforementioned spectral lines. Particular attention is given to the following quantities that are expected to be influenced by the presence of magnetic fields through the Hanle and MO effects: the sign of the U signals, the total linear polarization amplitude (LP) and its direction (χ) with respect to a reference direction. We find that at the center and near wings of the k line, the behavior of these quantities is significantly different in the observed quiet and plage regions, and that both LP and χ seem to depend on B L . These observational results are indicative of the operation of the Hanle effect at the center of the k line and of the MO effects at the near wings of the k line.

Observation of Buried Magnetic Domains in Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel

Bulk-sensitive microscopic measurements of buried magnetic domains are reported. Utilizing a new magneto-optical effect in the hard X-ray regime, referred to as X-ray magnetic circularly polarized emission (XMCPE), the internal transverse domains in a grain-oriented (GO) electrical steel sheet are unambiguously observed. This allows the lateral shapes of the transverse domains to be successfully visualized. In addition, we discuss the magnetic domain structure of the supplementary domains below the surface from measurements performed at several pairs of incident and exit angles.

Investigation of the effect of temperature on the magneto-optical effect of changing the transparency of a magnetic emulsion

The influence of temperature on the effect of changes in the transparency of magnetic emulsions with low interfacial tension in a magnetic field has been studied. A nonmonotonic dependence of the amplitude of the magneto-optical effect with a change in the temperature of the test sample is found.

Computational Modeling of Magnetic Field Optical Fiber Sensor Considering Temperature Effects

Due to the vast area of application and reliability, fiber optic magnetic field sensors have been the subject of several studies, however, some of these application areas are submitted to temperature variations, which can hinder the sensors in monitoring the magnetic field. With this panorama, this work analyzes through computational modeling a fiber optical magnetic field sensor, using the magneto-optical Faraday effect and observing temperature effects in the sensor response. For modeling, a numerical model built in COMSOL Multiphysics is used. The results show a value for cross-sensitivity of 3.27 mT/°C in a non-optimized configuration of the sensor and of 2.47 mT/°C for an optimized configuration. A methodology for optimizing the sensor to operate in a certain temperature range, 55 to 75 °C, is also discussed. The results presented in this work show that the temperature is an important factor to be considered to improve the selectivity and to obtain the correct sensitivity of the sensor.

All-optical polarization-state engineering in quantum cavity optomagnonics

We theoretically propose an optical polarization-state engineering based on a cavity optomagnonic platform in the full quantum regime. Here, the optomagnonic interaction can be realized in an yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere, which supports both two traveling-photon modes with orthogonal linear polarizations [i.e., horizontally ($H$-) and vertically ($V$-) polarized photon modes] and a Kittel magnon mode. In our scheme, the magnons mediate the photons during polarization conversions, and break the time-reversal symmetry in mutual interconversions. Through a triple resonance between the magnon mode, $H$-polarized, and $V$-polarized photon modes within the YIG optomagnonic cavity, we demonstrate an all-optical scheme to manipulate the optical polarization behaviors by adjusting an external driving laser, finding that the polarization states of the output light can be well mapped to the whole Poincar\'e sphere and a large polarization rotation of the output light with photon antibunching and superbunching can be achieved easily for a range of realistic parameters. We find the strong discrepancy in the polarization response between the exact numerical calculation using the full quantum master equation and the semiclassical approximation. In addition, we reveal the magnon-induced broken time-reversal symmetry, which connects the quantum cavity optomagnonics to the classical magneto-optical effect. Our obtained results have potential application in quantum polarization-state engineering, and also offer a further understanding for cavity optomagnonics at the quantum level.

Influence of Temperature on the Magneto-Optical Effect of Change Transparency in a Magnetic Emulsion

Influence of Temperature on the Magneto-Optical Effect of Change Transparency in a Magnetic Emulsion

Effects of Drying Temperature and Tempering Duration on Hybrid Rice Seed Germination, Thin-Layer Drying Characteristics, and Power Requirement

This study presents the results of thin-layer drying tests for hybrid rice seeds. The independent factors were drying air temperature (45, 55, and 65 °C) and tempering duration (1, 2, and 4 h), while the dependent parameters were seed germination and drying characteristics, including drying rate, total and effective drying operation times, and power requirement. Considering one hybrid and 3 mo storage period after drying, the results showed that samples continuously dried at 45 and 55°C resulted in 91 and 86% germination percentages, respectively, which were above the acceptable Philippine national standard of at least 85%. However, when tempered for 2 or 4 h, even samples dried at 65°C resulted in more than 90% germination percentage. Tempered samples had an effective operation time of only 1 - 3 h, which was 50% less than those continuously dried (1.5 - 6 h of effective operation time). In effect, the total power used was halved by applying tempering. These results showed considerable advantages of tempering in terms of seed quality improvement and potential energy savings.

Light transport through a magneto-optical medium: simple theory revealing fruitful phenomena.

Electromagnetic wave transmission in a magneto-optical (MO) medium is a basic and old topic but has raised new interest in recent years, because MO medium plays a vital role in optical isolator, topological optics, electromagnetic field regulation, microwave engineering, and many other technological applications. Here, we describe several fascinating physical images and classical physical variables in MO medium by using a simple and rigorous electromagnetic field solution approach. We can easily obtain explicit formulations for all relevant physical quantities, such as the electromagnetic field distribution, energy flux, reflection/transmission phase, reflection/transmission coefficients, and Goos-Hänchen (GH) shift in MO medium. This theory can help to deepen and broaden our physical understanding of basic electromagnetics, optics, and electrodynamics in application to gyromagnetic and MO homogeneous medium and microstructures, and might help to disclose and develop new ways and routes to high technologies in optics and microwave.

On-chip Ce:YIG/Si Mach-Zehnder optical isolator with low power consumption.

The integrated optical isolator is an essential building block in photonic integrated chips. However, the performance of on-chip isolators based on the magneto-optic (MO) effect has been limited due to the magnetization requirement of permanent magnets or metal microstrips on MO materials. Here, an MZI optical isolator built on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) without any external magnetic field is proposed. A multi-loop graphene microstrip operating as an integrated electromagnet above the waveguide, instead of the traditional metal microstrip, generates the saturated magnetic fields required for the nonreciprocal effect. Subsequently, the optical transmission can be tuned by varying the intensity of currents applied on the graphene microstrip. Compared with gold microstrip, the power consumption is reduced by 70.8%, and temperature fluctuation is reduced by 69.5% while preserving the isolation ratio of 29.44 dB and the insertion loss of 2.99 dB at1550 nm.

Spontaneous spin momentum locking and anomalous Hall effect in BiFeO3

The studies for the discovery of new nontrivial degrees of freedom of Bloch electrons are at the forefront of condensed matter physics. The focus remains on the spin-orbit coupling (SOC)-induced pseudospin valley state and its interplay with time inversion asymmetry. Here we propose a distinct magnetic order-protected, momentum-dependent spin-splitting valley (SSV) state in polar bulk ${\mathrm{BiFeO}}_{3}$. The octahedral distortion-induced spatial asymmetry of the superexchange interaction path breaks spin degeneracy and antiferromagnetic time-reversal symmetry. The SSV polarization is caused by crystal symmetry-related intrinsic SOC and leads to nonzero anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) and magneto-optical effects. The anomalous Hall conductivity and magneto-optical effects are expected to be most prominent if magnetic and electric dipoles are orthogonal. Due to the ferroelectric nature of ${\mathrm{BiFeO}}_{3}$, such unconventional magneto-optical effect and AHC in fully compensated magnetic order offers straightforward tunability under an electric field.

Magneto-optical detection of terahertz cavity magnon-polaritons in antiferromagnetic HoFeO3

An intense THz pulse excites a high-Q magnetic resonance mode in the antiferromagnetic insulator HoFeO3 by the THz Zeeman torque. By using magneto-optical detection and sweeping the temperature, we observed an anomalous beating in the magnon dynamics for certain temperatures. The beating originates from the formation of cavity magnon-polaritons upon the intersection of the antiferromagnetic resonance frequency with the frequencies of the Fabry–Pérot modes inside the etalon formed by the sample cavity in the weak coupling limit. The validity of this idea is demonstrated by simulations using Maxwell's equations. Furthermore, the observed beating pattern depends on the polarization of the probe pulse. This dependence can be reproduced in the simulations by considering an imaginary Verdet constant, which could be a result of an interplay between the magneto-optical Faraday effect and static linear birefringence.

Noiseless single-photon isolator at room temperature

Nonreciprocal devices, such as isolators, are of great importance for optical communication and optical information processing. To bypass the limitation of a strong magnetic field imposed by the traditional Faraday magneto-optic effect, many alternative mechanisms have been proposed to demonstrate magnetic-free nonreciprocity. However, limited by the drive-induced noise, the noiseless isolator capable of working in the quantum regime has yet to be realized in the experiment. Here, we show a noiseless all-optical isolator with genuine single photons in hot atoms. We experimentally study this mechanism using an open V-type level scheme and demonstrate a low insertion loss of 0.6 dB and high isolation of 30.3 dB with bandwidth up to hundreds of megahertz. Furthermore, the nonreciprocal direction can be truly reversed only by tuning the frequency of the pump laser with the same setup. Our scheme relies on widely used optical technology and is thus universal and robust.

Unidirectional mode interference in magneto-optical photonic heterostructure

We investigate a unidirectional mode interference effect based on one-way coupled topological edge states (CTESs), which originate from the coupling of topological edge states (TESs) in magneto-optical photonic crystal (MOPC) heterostructure. By using the finite element method, the self-imaging phenomenon in the MOPC heterostructure is predicted. As an example of applications, a one-way tunable frequency and power splitter based on unidirectional mode interference is designed, which is reflectionless. Besides, the splitting ratio can be tuned by adjusting the external magnetic field. Moreover, the splitter is robust against common disorders, including the radius- and position-fluctuations of pillars and nonuniform magnetizations, which keep the bandgap open. Our findings provide a new, to the extent of our knowledge, way of designing integrated photonic circuit applications such as reflectionless filters, couplers, multiplexers, switches, or even nonreciprocal devices, and so on.

Characteristics and Recent Development of Fluoride Magneto-Optical Crystals

Magneto-optical materials are the fundamental component of Faraday isolators; therefore, they are significantly important for solid-state laser systems. Fluoride magneto-optical crystals such as CeF3, KTb3F10 and LiTbF4 exhibit advantages of wide transmittance range, high optical homogeneity, smaller thermal lensing and weaker thermal induced depolarization effect, and thus are promising candidates for Faraday isolators in high-power solid-state lasers. Recent progress in crystal growth and characterizations of these fluoride magneto-optical crystals are introduced. Possible applications of Faraday isolators based on various fluoride crystals are discussed, especially for solid-state lasers in the ultraviolet (UV) or infrared (IR) spectral region.

Active manipulation of radiated fields by a magnetoplasmonic half-wave dipole nanoantenna.

We demonstrate a concept for the active manipulation of radiated fields by a magnetoplasmonic half-wave dipole nanoantenna. Our idea comprises a two arms nanoantenna, made of metallic ferromagnetic cobalt-silver alloy (Co6Ag94), inspired by the analogous radio frequency half-wave dipole antenna design. Numerical results, obtained under the magnetization saturation condition, indicate a tilting of the radiated beam depending on the magnitude and sense of the magnetization of the ferromagnetic material. Significantly, we obtained tilting angles as large as ±9.7∘ around the y axis for the magnetization placed along the x or z axes, respectively. Results in this work not only open up a new, to the best of our knowledge, way to dynamically manipulate the beam steering at the chip-scale, but also contribute to unveil novel magneto-optical effects at the nanoscale.

Emergent optical nonreciprocity and chirality-controlled magneto-optical resonance in a hybrid magneto–chiral metamaterial

Broken spatial and time reversal symmetries in materials often give rise to new emergent phenomena in the interaction between light and matter. The combination of chirality and broken time reversal symmetry in a magnetic field leads to magneto–chiral phenomena, such as the nonreciprocity of transmission. Here, we construct a terahertz hybrid metamaterial that combines the natural optical activity of a chiral metallic gammadion bilayer and the magneto-optical activity of semiconductor indium antimonide in a magnetic field. We report a resonant magneto–chiral effect that leads to polarization-independent nonreciprocal optical transmittance. Furthermore, we discover a magneto-optical Faraday effect that is resonantly controlled by the natural optical activity of the chiral gammadion bilayer. Unlike optical activity due to chirality, the novel Faraday effect is odd under time reversal. Both phenomena are activated by a modest magnetic field, which may open doors for their potential applications in polarization-independent optical isolation and highly efficient polarization control at terahertz frequencies.

A Sub‐Picojoule per Bit Integrated Magneto‐Optic Modulator on Silicon: Modeling and Experimental Demonstration

AbstractIntegrated magneto‐optic (MO) modulators are an attractive but not fully explored alternative to electro‐optic (EO) modulators. They are current driven, structurally simple, and could potentially achieve high efficiency in cryogenic and room temperature environments where fJ bit−1optical interfaces are needed. In this paper, the performance and energy efficiency of a novel MO modulator at room temperature are for the first time assessed. First, a model of the micro‐ring‐based modulator is implemented to investigate the design parameters and their influence on the performance. Then, a fabricated device is experimentally characterized to assess its performance in terms of bit rate and energy efficiency. The model shows efficient operation at 1.2 Gbps using a 16 mA drive current, consuming only 155 fJ bit−1. The experimental results show that the MO effect is suitable for modulation, achieving error‐free operation above 16 mA with a power consumption of 258 fJ bit−1at a transient limited data rate of 1.2 Gbps.

Influence of Goethite Nanorods on Structural Changes and Transitions in Nematic Liquid Crystal E7

A composite ferronematic system based on the nematic liquid crystal E7, doped with lath-like goethite magnetic nanoparticles of volume concentrations 10−3, 5 × 10−4, and 10−5, was investigated. Both surface acoustic waves (SAWs) and the magneto-optical effect were used to study the influence of magnetic nanoparticles on ferronematic liquid crystals’ structural changes, focused above all on structural transitions. The responses of SAW attenuation and light transmission to external magnetic fields were investigated experimentally under linearly increasing/decreasing or jumped (time influence) magnetic fields, respectively. An investigation of temperature on structural changes was performed, as well. The experimental results validated the decrease in the threshold field of the ferronematic composites in comparison with the pure E7, as well as an increase in the transition temperature with the increasing volume fraction of nanoparticles. The effect of the nanoparticles’ concentration on both total structural changes and residual attenuations at the vanishing magnetic field was also registered. The light transmission measurements confirmed the effect of the concentration of goethite nanoparticles on the resultant magneto-optical behavior, concerning both its stability and switching time.