Magneto-optical Research Articles

Horizontal aluminum magneto-plasmonic metasurface for efficient magneto-optical Kerr modulation and sensing in the ultraviolet range.

Most of the plasmonic nanostructures utilized for magneto-optical (MO) enhancement have been limited to noble metals with resulting enhancement in the visible and infrared spectral range. Here, we designed a horizontal aluminum magneto-plasmonic metasurface, with the ability to control the Kerr rotation angle and enhance the RI sensing performance based on magneto-plasmons, by exploiting the polarization degree of freedom in the ultraviolet range. The surface composes of L-shaped magnetic dielectric embedded in the Al film. The reflection spectrum and the Kerr rotation angle map are both symmetric about the polarization angle of 45° and 135°. It is demonstrated that the sign change of the two maximal Kerr rotation angles at polarization angle of 0° and 90°, originates from the relative contribution of the two mutually orthogonal oscillating electric dipoles. In addition, the RI sensing FoM based on Kerr reversal at 372 nm of this structure reaches 5000/RIU, which is superior to the result in the visible or infrared range (1735/RIU). The results of our investigation demonstrate the potential of Al-based magneto-plasmonic effect and offer opportunities to push the MO spectral response out of the visible range into the ultraviolet range.

Controlling Bi/Fe ratio in bismuth iron garnet thin films deposited by confocal magnetron sputtering for enhanced Faraday rotation

We have successfully deposited high-quality bismuth-iron-garnet (BIG; Bi3Fe5O12) epitaxial thin films on single crystal gadolinium-gallium-garnet (GGG; Gd3Ga5O12) (111) substrates through Radio frequency (RF) confocal sputtering, utilizing separate bismuth and iron oxide sputtering targets and optimized thermal treatments. The Bi/Fe ratio in the deposited BIG thin films can be varied by controlling the sputter process parameters. These deposited thin films exhibit homogeneity and surface root mean square (rms) roughness of less than 2 nm. The epitaxial film quality is confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Moreover, the films demonstrate low optical loss and a magneto-optical Faraday rotation as high as −34o±1o /μm at a wavelength of 535 nm for a BIG thin film with a Bi/Fe ratio 0.7 and annealing temperature of 510oC. Additionally, the coercivity of the deposited films is lower than that of those deposited via RF sputtering using a single composite target. This co-sputtering approach provides real-time flexibility for the deposition of high-quality BIG films.

Achieving a comparable transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect by spin–orbit field driven magnetoplasmonic

In this study, we propose and simulate a magnetoplasmonics heterostructure that utilizes spin–orbit fields to generate an internal magnetic field and create a significant magneto-optical effect. Our approach offers a new way to overcome the challenges of using permanent magnets or magnetic coils in conventional magnetoplasmonics, such as high-power consumption and non-scalability. We demonstrate that it is possible to create an appropriate amount of magnetic field using spin–orbit fields induced by the spin-Hall effect, such that the consumption power becomes reasonable and the dimensions could be miniaturized. This approach will be an important development in the field of magneto-optics, as it can lead to enhanced transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect in the present of surface plasmon polaritons. The proposed nanostructure consists of a ferromagnetic film adjacent to a heavy metal layer, both sandwiched between two noble metal films, and deposited on a dielectric prism. The strength of the Kerr signal strongly depends on the thickness of the ferromagnetic layer, with the maximum effect observed at a thickness of 5nm. This concept has potential for various nanophotonic and spintronic applications, particularly for developing high-speed active plasmonic devices for ultrafast light modulation.

Spin chain orientation and magneto-optical coupling in twisted NiPS3 homostructures

Magnetic two-dimensional (2D) materials have garnered significant attention due to their unique electronic, magnetic, and optical properties and their potential applications in next-generation electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the magneto-optical effects of oligolayer antiferromagnetic materials remain inadequately understood. Here, we investigate the magnetic properties of few-layer nickel phosphorus trisulfide (NiPS3) and its twisted heterostructures, emphasizing the observation of optical phenomena at low temperatures (1.65 K). By stacking few-layer NiPS3 to fabricate twisted homostructures, we probe their magnetic characteristics using photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Our results reveal that sharp exciton peaks emerge at low temperatures and that the spin chain orientation in oligolayer NiPS3 can be discerned through the polarization dependence of exciton PL intensity. Notably, fewer-layered NiPS3 exhibits a significant magneto-optical effect under an applied magnetic field, allowing the modulation of the polarization angle of its exciton PL spectrum. Additionally, the polarization-dependent Raman spectrum of NiPS3 shows substantial changes under the influence of a magnetic field. These findings underscore the potential of few-layer NiPS3 for future magneto-optical device applications.

Evolution from ultrafast demagnetization to magnetization reversal at the Fe sites in Gd23Fe67Co10 with laser fluence, observed by the element-selective magneto-optical Kerr effect using an X-ray free electron laser

In the present study, we investigated the magnetization dynamics of a Gd23Fe67Co10 nanofilm. We subjected the nanofilm to a time-resolved experiment to examine its magneto-optical effect using an X-ray free electron laser. By tuning the energy of the photons to the core-level resonance of the Fe absorption edge, we selectively determined the magnetic behavior of the elements at the Fe site in the nanofilm. When triggered by an ultrashort pulse of infrared radiation, the materials underwent demagnetization and magnetic reversal, depending on fluence of the laser. The following relaxation process was found to be associated not only with the fast recursion but also with a long sustention of the reversed magnetization. The experimental observation consistently match with the recent prediction by the magnetic dynamic simulation. The ultrafast dynamics was triggered by the ultrafast thermal effect and it was recovered toward the initial state in the non-thermal manner.

Using magneto-optical effects in soft X-ray reflectivity to study current driven magnetization reversal

The soft X-ray reflectivity technique is frequently utilized for studying magnetization reversal in thin films due to its elemental and depth sensitivity. The characteristic hysteresis loops measured with this technique are dependent on both the magnetization direction in magnetic materials and the incident soft X-ray polarization. In this note, we have discussed these magneto-optical effects in soft X-ray reflectivity measurements. These effects can be exploited to probe magnetization reversal mechanisms driven by stimuli beyond conventional means of magnetic field. To demonstrate this, we have presented our investigations on current-induced magnetization switching in ferromagnet (FM)/heavy metal(HM) heterostructures.

Dead-zone suppression method of NMOR atomic magnetometers based on alignment and orientation polarization

Nonlinear magneto-optical rotation (NMOR) atomic magnetometers demonstrate exceptional sensitivity in the geomagnetic environment, making them highly attractive for applications in resource exploration, biological research, and fundamental physics studies. Nevertheless, the presence of the “dead zone” hampers the magnetometer’s capacity to detect magnetic fields with sensitivity. In this paper, we present a method for effectively mitigating the “dead zone” by simultaneous detection of alignment and orientation polarization. Based on the standard formalism of density matrix and Liouville Equation, theoretical models of alignment and orientation resonance signals as a function of the magnetic field are developed. Additionally, due to the large light intensity used in the actual system, the alignment to orientation conversion (AOC) effect has been taken into account to reveal a more complete model. The influence of light intensity on the alignment and orientation signals are investigated. It is found that there is an optimal theoretical light intensity, which makes the suppression effect of the “dead zone” best. The theoretical model aligns well with the experimental phenomenon and successfully minimizes the extent of the “dead zone”.

Enhanced light confinement in nonlocal resonant metasurfaces with weak multipolar scatterers

Stronger light confinement can be enabled by nanoantennas in the nanostructure and result in efficient control of the directionality of the scattering. We report on an observation of the well-pronounced multipolar resonances from nickel nanoantennas originating from collective effects. We show that the collective coupling of multipolar modes from weak scatterers can substantially enhance the electric dipole and quadrupole resonances. We also demonstrate the generalized lattice Kerker effect in this nanoantenna array. Resonant multipolar excitations within nickel nanoantenna arrays can significantly enhance phenomena such as magneto-optical effects, indicating promising potential for advanced applications in the field of nanophotonics and sensing.

Optical Readout of Single-Molecule Magnets Magnetic Memories with Unpolarized Light.

Magnetic materials are widely used for many technologies in energy, health, transportation, computation, and data storage. For the latter, the readout of the magnetic state of a medium is crucial. Optical readout based on the magneto-optical Faraday effect was commercialized but soon abandoned because of the need for a complex circular polarization-sensitive readout. Combining chirality with magnetism can remove this obstacle, as chiral magnetic materials exhibit magneto-chiral dichroism, a differential absorption of unpolarized light dependent on their magnetic state. Molecular chemistry allows the rational introduction of chirality into single-molecule magnets (SMMs), ultimate nanoobjects capable of retaining magnetization. Here, we report the first experimental demonstration of optical detection of the magnetic state of an SMM using unpolarized light on a novel air-stable Dy-based chiral SMM featuring a strong single-ion magnetic anisotropy. These findings might represent a paradigm shift in the field of optical data readout technologies.

Magneto-optical metasurfaces for high-Q perfect absorption with quasi-bound states in the continuum.

We present a novel, to the best of our knowledge, magneto-optical (MO) metasurface composed of a bismuth iron garnet (BIG) nanocube array, designed to achieve near-perfect absorption through quasi-bound states in the continuum (QBICs). This metasurface supports a stable QBIC mode induced by MO-induced permittivity terms that break the symmetry of the permittivity tensors, corresponding to a longitudinal electric dipole (ED) mode. By integrating graphene to introduce material loss, the absorption reaches 99.6% at a wavelength of 1512.3 nm with a Q factor of 9440, despite monolayer graphene's inherent absorption being only 2.3%. The inherent transverse ED background mode, with high reflection and low Q, helps decrease the radiative loss of the QBIC mode, allowing the structure to surpass the 50% absorption limit. This approach offers a simplified pathway for designing high-Q metasurface perfect absorbers, with potential applications in optical switches and modulators.

Magnetooptical Faraday and Kerr effects in nanosized BiYIG/GGG structures

AnnotationMagnetooptical Faraday and Kerr effects are studied in the nanosized BiY2Fe5O12 films within the spectral region of 1.3 eV<E<4.5 eV and magnetic fields of up to 10 kOe. It is shown that the thin-films BiY2Fe5O12 with the thicknesses ranging from 5 to 51 nm obtained by magnetron sputtering on the single-crystalline Gd3Ga5O12 substrates have high magneto-optical quality. The specific Faraday rotation for the nanosized Bi0.5Y1.5Fe5O12-δ films reaches about 140000 deg/cm close to that for bulk BiY2Fe5O12. Meanwhile, the polar Kerr effect reaches about 30 min within the range of 1.6 eV–4.1 eV at the magnetic fields above 2 kOe.It is shown that the strong paramagnetic contribution of Gd3Ga5O12 substrates significantly affects the Faraday and Kerr effect for the films. The defining of magnetooptical parameters and Verdet constant for the Gd3Ga5O12 substrate permitted to separate the substrate contribution and reveal peculiarities of spectral dependences of both Faraday and Kerr effects for magnetic films of various thicknesses. The estimated critical thickness of the film-substrate interface region is as large as 35 lattice constants of BiY2Fe5O12. It is shown that the magnetooptical effects for the thin films with the thickness above the critical one correspond to those for bulk BiY2Fe5O12. For samples with the smallest thicknesses of the film (5 nm) the contributions from magnetically dead and magnetically passive layers lead to a drastic reduction in the observable Faraday and Kerr effects with a dominating contribution from the substrate. The high density of displacement dislocations at the film-substrate interface leads to the decrease the magnetooptical quality of the nanosized films.

Indirect measurement of atomic magneto-optical rotation via Hilbert transform

Abstract The Kramers–Kronig relations are a pivotal foundation of linear optics and atomic physics, embedding a physical connection between the real and imaginary components of any causal response function. A mathematically equivalent, but simpler, approach instead utilises the Hilbert transform. In a previous study, the Hilbert transform was applied to absorption spectra in order to infer the sole refractive index of an atomic medium in the absence of an external magnetic field. The presence of a magnetic field causes the medium to become birefringent and dichroic, and therefore it is instead characterised by two refractive indices. In this study, we apply the same Hilbert transform technique to independently measure both refractive indices of a birefringent atomic medium, leading to an indirect measurement of atomic magneto-optical rotation. Key to this measurement is the insight that inputting specific light polarisations into an atomic medium induces absorption associated with only one of the refractive indices. We show this is true in two configurations, commonly referred to in literature as the Faraday and Voigt geometries, which differ by the magnetic field orientation with respect to the light wavevector. For both cases, we measure the two refractive indices independently for a Rb thermal vapour in a 0.6 T magnetic field, finding excellent agreement with theory. This study further emphasises the application of the Hilbert transform to the field of quantum and atomic optics in the linear regime.

Magneto-optical chiral metasurfaces for achieving polarization-independent nonreciprocal transmission.

Nonreciprocal transmission, resulting from the breaking of Lorentz reciprocity, plays a pivotal role in nonreciprocal communication systems by enabling asymmetric forward and backward propagations. Metasurfaces endowed with nonreciprocity represent a compact and facile platform for manipulating electromagnetic waves in an unprecedented manner. However, most passive metasurfaces that achieve nonreciprocal transmissions are polarization dependent. While incorporation of active elements or nonlinear materials can achieve polarization-independent nonreciprocal metasurfaces, the complicated configurations limit their practical applications. To address this issue, we propose and demonstrate a passive and linear metasurface that combines magneto-optical and chiral effects, enabling polarization-independent isolation. The designed metasurface achieves a transmittance of up to 80%, with a high contrast between forward and backward propagations. Our work introduces a novel mechanism for nonreciprocal transmission and lays the foundation for the development of compact, polarization-insensitive nonreciprocal devices.

Enhancing terahertz magneto-optical effects in wafer-scale RIG single crystal thick films with anti-reflective coatings for improved transmittance

Wafer-scale rare-earth iron garnet (RIG) single crystal thick films were fabricated on 3-in. gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrates using liquid phase epitaxy. The terahertz transmittance of the RIG crystals improved after removing the GGG substrate by polishing. The time-domain spectra at Terahertz (THz) frequencies indicate the existence of a magneto-optical effect in RIG samples. The results indicate that the RIG samples exhibit a high refractive index of ∼4.50 within the 0.1–1.0 THz frequency range, a transmittance of around 40%, and an absorption rate of only 10–50 cm−1. The Faraday rotation angles of the thick single-crystal films of the RIG samples were measured using a THz-TDS system. The RIG has a thickness of ∼330 μm. The Faraday rotation angles of RIG crystals at THz frequencies can reach up to 16° when an external magnetic field of 0.18 T is applied. The Verdet constants of the RIG sample were calculated to be ∼120°/mm/T. To improve the transmittance of the RIG sample, epoxy resin and polymethylpentene (TPX) were used as anti-reflective films. The transmittance of the RIG sample increased by ∼5% for the 80 μm thick epoxy and about 10% for the 320 μm thick TPX. Therefore, this RIG single crystal thick film can achieve a low loss, a high transmittance, and a strong magneto-optical effect in the terahertz region with the cooperation of a reflection-reducing film. It is expected to have wide applications in terahertz magnetic polarization conversion, non-reciprocal phase shifters, and isolators.

Diagnostic potential of wavelength-integrated scattering polarisation in the solar He II Ly-αline

Aims.The main goal of this work is to study the potential of the He IILy-αwavelength-integrated scattering polarisation for probing the magnetism of the solar upper chromosphere. Meanwhile, the suitability of different modelling approximations is investigated.Methods.Radiative transfer calculations are performed in semi-empirical 1D solar atmospheres, out of local thermodynamic equilibrium, considering a two-term atomic model and accounting for the Hanle, Zeeman, and magneto-optical effects. The problem is suitably linearised and discretised, and the resulting numerical system is solved with a matrix-free iterative method. The results obtained by modelling scattering processes with three different descriptions, namely in the limit of complete frequency redistribution (CRD), and accounting for partial frequency redistribution (PRD) effects under the angle-averaged (AA) approximation and in the general angle-dependent (AD) formulation, are compared.Results.The synthetic Stokes profiles resulting from CRD, PRD–AA, and PRD–AD calculations show a very good agreement in the line core, while some differences are observed inQ/Ioutside this spectral region. Moreover, the precise structure of the atmospheric model does not noticeably affect the line-core profiles, but it strongly impacts theQ/Isignals outside the line core. As most of the He IILy-αphotons originate in the core region, it turns out that wavelength-integrated linear polarisation signals are almost insensitive to both the scattering description and the atmospheric model. Appreciable wavelength-integratedŪ/Īsignals, showing observable sensitivity to horizontal magnetic fields in the 0–1000 G range, are also found, particularly near the limb. While the integration time required to detect magnetic fields in the quiet chromosphere with this line is too long for sounding-rocket missions, magnetic fields corresponding to typical plage areas would produce detectable signals, especially near the limb.Conclusions.These results, to be confirmed by 3D calculations including the impact of horizontal inhomogeneities and bulk velocity gradients, show that filter polarimetry in the He IILy-αline has a promising potential for chromospheric magnetic-field diagnostics. In near-limb plage regions, this could already be assessed through sounding-rocket experiments.

Broadband Enhancement of Magneto-Optical Effects in Hybrid Waveguide-Plasmonic Surfaces for Sensing.

Conventional magnetophotonic nanostructures typically function within narrow wavelength and incident angle ranges, where resonance is observed and magneto-optical (MO) effects are amplified. Expanding these operational ranges may allow for improved applications, including in (bio)sensing devices. In this study, we describe a hybrid magnetoplasmonic waveguide grating (HMPWG) in which the coupling of plasmonic resonances and waveguide modes leads to enhanced MO effects and sensitivity, according to full-wave electromagnetic simulations. High transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect (TMOKE) signals were observed for the full range of wavelengths and angles investigated, i.e., for θinc ≥ 1° and 500 nm ≤ λ ≤ 850 nm. As a proof-of-concept we verified that using the HMPWG nanostructure with an aqueous solution as superstrate one may obtain a sensitivity in variation of the refractive index unit (RIU) of S = 166°/RIU and S = 230 nm/RIU in angle and wavelength interrogation modes, respectively. Upon comparing with conventional magnetoplasmonic gratings, which only enable excitation of plasmonic resonances, we demonstrate that HMPWG nanostructures can be further optimized to reach not only high sensitivity but also high resolution in sensing and biosensing.

Inverse Faraday Effect in Ferrite–Garnet Films in the Near-Infrared Range

The magneto-optical Faraday effect is determined by the electric dipole and magnetic dipole transitions in a transparent magnetic material. At the same time, the inverse Faraday effect is still described by an expression that includes only electric dipole transitions. The magnetic dipole contribution to the inverse Faraday effect is considered theoretically, and the dependence of the inverse Faraday effect on the wavelength in the near-infrared range (where the magnetic dipole contribution becomes significant) is obtained by the example of a ferrite–garnet film. It is shown that, although both contributions to the inverse Faraday effect always take place for homogeneous films, only the magnetic-dipole inverse Faraday effect manifests itself for films with a periodic nanostructure upon excitation by a TE waveguide mode, which may be useful for its experimental observation.

Effects of hydrostatic pressure, aluminium composition, and external magnetic field on intersubband and intrasubband transitions characteristics in symmetric potential quantum wells

Aluminium composition (λ), magnetic field (B), and hydrostatic pressure (P) influences on magneto-optical (MO) properties of intra- and inter-subband transitions in GaAs/AlλGa1−λAs symmetric QWs for four models of confined optic phonons are studied and compared. The findings indicate: the MO characteristics of intra- and inter-subband transitions are significantly influenced by B, λ, and P for phonon absorption and emission. The e–p interaction intensity decreases as P increases, whereas it increases as λ increases. The influences of λ and P on phonon absorption are more significant than those on emission. E–p interaction intensity dependence on λ and P for intra-subband transitions is stronger than that for inter-subband ones. The e–p interaction in QWs is well described by Knipp–Reinecke and Huang–Zhu models. To reduce the influence of P on MO properties, we can increase T and λ or decrease B. At T≈600 K, the influence of P is insignificant and can be neglected.

Optical fiber sensor based on magneto-optical surface plasmon resonance with ultra-high figure of merit

Compared to surface plasmon resonance (SPR), the sensors based on the magneto-optical SPR (MOSPR) technique have much higher figure-of-merit (FOM). However, there are no reports about applying MOSPR in the optical fiber structure now. In this work, a novel D-shaped optical fiber sensor based on the MOSPR technique is proposed. The D-shaped optical fiber is coated with a thin silver film and a magneto-optical (MO) material film of Cerium-doped Yttrium-Iron garnet (CeYIG). By applying a magnetic field on the sensing region, the magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) of the CeYIG layer and the related MOSPR phenomenon could be excited when appropriate light is transmitted in the proposed optical fiber sensor. The influence of the structural parameters including the residual cladding thickness, silver and MO material film thicknesses are analyzed theoretically by the finite element method (FEM). With the optimal parameters, the sensor achieves the sensitivity of 5304 nm RIU−1. Since the peak width of MOSPR spectra is much narrower than that of the SPR spectra, the FOM of the sensor is largely enhanced to 3864 RIU−1 on average and 13260 RIU−1 in maximum, which surpasses the optical fiber SPR sensors vastly. The miniaturized and simple design of the D-shaped optical fiber MOSPR sensor, coupled with the ultra-high FOM, offers itself great potential in biochemical sensing applications.

Self-holding magneto-optical switch integrated on silicon photonic platforms.

We demonstrated what we believe to be a novel self-holding waveguide switch integrated on silicon photonic platforms utilizing the magneto-optical (MO) effect with electrical switching operation. In this study, we designed thin-film magnet arrays and electrodes positioned beside the waveguide. The switching states were changed by flipping the magnetization of thin-film magnets with an applied current of 700 mA, and the switching states were successfully maintained with zero current. The fabricated MO switch has an extinction ratio (ER) of 16.5 dB and an insertion loss (IL) of 7.3 dB at a wavelength of 1546.2 nm, with a phase shift of π/2. This study shows the potential of self-holding silicon photonic switches, enabling large-scale photonic integrated circuits with extremely low energy consumption.