By studying the rotations of the polarization of light propagating in right and left handed films, with emphasis on the transmission (Faraday effect) and reflec- tions (Kerr effect) of light and through the use of complex values representing the rotations, it can be shown that the real portions of the complex angle of Faraday and Kerr rotations are odd functions with respect to the refractive index n and that the respective imaginary portions of the angles are an even function of n. Multiple reflections within the medium lead to the maximums of the real portions of Faraday and Kerr effects to not coincide with zero ellipticity. It will also be shown that in the thin film case with left handed materials there are large resonant enhancements of the reflected Kerr angle that could be obtained experimentally.
In a uniform microresonator, the generation of a broadband Kerr frequency comb is triggered by Turing patterns. Here, we study a distinctly different route to initiate the Kerr frequency comb by Faraday ripples. Momentum conservation is ensured by azimuthal modulation of the cavity dispersion. With a good agreement with the theoretical analysis, we demonstrate a multispectral Kerr frequency comb covering telecommunication O, C, L, and 2 μm bands. Comb coherence and absence of a subcomb offset are confirmed by cw heterodyne beat note and amplitude noise spectra measurements. The device can be u…
We review the generalization of tunneling time and anomalous behaviour of Faraday and Kerr rotation angles in parity and time ($\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$)-symmetric systems. Similarities of two phenomena are discussed, both exhibit a phase transition-like anomalous behaviour in certain range of model parameters. Anomalous behaviour of tunneling time and Faraday/Kerr angles in $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-symmetric systems is caused by the motion of poles of scattering amplitudes in energy/frequency complex plane.
It is known that the gravitational analog of the Faraday rotation arises in the rotating spacetime due to the nonzero gravitomagnetic field. In this paper, we show that it also arises in the "nonrotating" Reissner-Nordström spacetime, if it is immersed in a uniform magnetic field. The non-zero angular momentum (due to the presence of electric charge and magnetic field) of the electromagnetic field acts as the twist potential to raise the gravitational Faraday rotation as well as the gravitational Stern-Gerlach effect in the said spacetimes. The twisting can still exist even if the mass of the …
The evidence that double negative media, with an effective negative permittivity, and an effective negative permeability, can be manufactured to operate at frequencies ranging from microwave to optical is ushering in a new era of metamaterials. They are referred to here as 'left-handed', even though a variety of names is evident from the literature. In anticipation of a demand for highly structured integrated practical waveguides, this paper addresses the impact of this type of medium upon waveguides that can be also nonlinear. After an interesting historical overview and an exposure of some s…
In conventional Kerr- and Faraday microscopy the sample is illuminated with plane-polarised light and a magnetic domain contrast is generated by an analyser making use of the Kerr- or Faraday rotation. In this paper we demonstrate possibilities of analyser-free magneto-optical microscopy based on magnetisation-dependent intensity modulations of the light: (i) The transverse Kerr effect can be applied for in-plane magnetised material, demonstrated for an FeSi sheet. (ii) Illuminating the same sample with circularly polarised light leads to a domain contrast with a different symmetry as the conv…
This article aims at discussing computational approach to design magnet-free nonreciprocal metamaterial. Detailed mathematical derivation on floquet mode analysis is presented for Faraday and Kerr rotation. Non-reciprocity in the designed metasurface is achieved in the presence of biased transistor loaded in the gap of circular ring resonator. Based on the synthesized mathematical model, We extract co-cross polarized components as well as Faraday and Kerr rotation from the developed synthesized model and compare/contrast reciprocal and nonreciprocal system.
The magnetic force is retained in the Lorentz Oscillator Model and a perturbation solution is derived beyond the dipole approximation. Perturbation series for the electric dipole, magnetic dipole, and electric quadrupole moments in addition to their macroscopic, spatially-averaged counterparts are also obtained. These expressions are shown to describe many optical phenomena: the normal, linear Zeeman, Faraday, and magneto-optic Kerr effects, the linear Stark, Pockels, and Kerr effects (when the restoring force is anharmonic), the momentum and angular momentum of a photon in matter (contributin…
We analyze nonlinear guided waves in a planar waveguide made of a left-handed material surrounded by a Kerr-like nonlinear dielectric. We predict that such a waveguide can support fast and slow symmetric and antisymmetric nonlinear modes. We study the symmetry breaking bifurcation and asymmetric modes in such a symmetric structure. We analyze nonlinear dispersion properties of the guided waves, and show that the modes can be both forward and backward.
Light polarization rotators and non-reciprocal optical isolators are essential building blocks in photonics technology. These macroscopic passive devices are commonly based on magneto-optical Faraday and Kerr polarization rotation. Magnetoplasmonics - the combination of magnetism and plasmonics - is a promising route to bring these devices to the nanoscale. We introduce design rules for highly tunable active magnetoplasmonic elements in which we can tailor the amplitude and sign of the Kerr response over a broad spectral range.
The Faraday effect, caused by a magnetic-field-induced change in the optical properties, takes place in a vast variety of systems from a single atomic layer of graphenes to huge galaxies. Currently, it plays a pivot role in many applications such as the manipulation of light and the probing of magnetic fields and material's properties. Basically, this effect causes a polarization rotation of light during its propagation along the magnetic field in a medium. Here, we report an extreme case of the Faraday effect where a linearly polarized ultrashort laser pulse splits in time into two circularly…
We apply the analogy between gravitational fields and optical media in the general relativistic geometric optics framework to describe how light can acquire orbital angular momentum (OAM) when it traverses the gravitational field of a massive rotating compact object and the interplay between OAM and polarization. Kerr spacetimes are known not only to impose a gravitational Faraday rotation on the polarization of a light beam, but also to set a characteristic fingerprint in the orbital angular momentum distribution of the radiation passing nearby a rotating black hole (BH). Kerr spacetime behav…
We study a ring cavity filled with a slab of a right-handed material and a slab of a left-handed material. Both layers are assumed to be nonlinear Kerr media. First, we derive a model for the propagation of light in a left-handed material. By constructing a mean-field model, we show that the sign of diffraction can be made either positive or negative in this resonator, depending on the thicknesses of the layers. Subsequently, we demonstrate that the dynamical behavior of the modulation instability is strongly affected by the sign of the diffraction coefficient. Finally, we study the dissipativ…
We experimentally show the enhancement of the Faraday and transverse magneto-optical Kerr effects in the two-dimensional arrays of nanocylinders made of bismuth-substituted iron-garnet and supporting both localized and lattice modes. Simultaneous excitation of these modes makes it possible to increase the Faraday rotation by 3 times and TMOKE by an order of magnitude compared to the smooth magnetic film of the equal effective thickness. Both magneto-optical effects are enhanced in wide spectral and angular ranges making the nanocylinder array magnetic dielectric structures promising for applic…
The transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect (TMOKE) in magnetite-based magneto-plasmonic crystals is studied experimentally and theoretically. We analyze angle-resolved TMOKE spectra from two types of structures where noble metallic stripes are incorporated inside a thin magnetite film or located on top of a homogeneous film. A multiple wide band enhancement of the TMOKE signal in transmission is demonstrated. The complex dielectric permittivity and gyration are experimentally determined using the ellipsometry technique as well as Faraday rotation and ellipticity measurements. The obtained para…
Kerr-effect-induced changes of the polarization state of light are well known in pulsed laser systems. An example is nonlinear polarization rotation, which is critical to the operation of many types of mode-locked lasers. Here, we demonstrate that the Kerr effect in a high-finesse Fabry-Pérot resonator can be utilized to control the polarization of a continuous wave laser. It is shown that a linearly-polarized input field is converted into a left- or right-circularly-polarized field, controlled via the optical power. The observations are explained by Kerr-nonlinearity induced symmetry breaking…
Plasmonics has been attracting considerable interest as it allows localization of light at nanoscale dimensions. A breakthrough in integrated nanophotonics can be obtained by fabricating plasmonic functional materials. Such systems may show a rich variety of novel phenomena and also have huge application potential. In particular magnetooptical materials are appealing as they may provide ultrafast control of laser light and surface plasmons via an external magnetic field. Here we demonstrate a new magnetooptical material: a one-dimensional plasmonic crystal formed by a periodically perforated n…
Magneto-optical phenomena such as the Faraday and Kerr effects play a decisive role for establishing control over polarization and intensity of optical fields propagating through a medium. Intensity effects where the direction of light emission depends on the orientation of the external magnetic field are of particular interest as they can be used for routing the light. We report on a new class of transverse emission phenomena for light sources located in the vicinity of a surface, where directionality is established perpendicularly to the externally applied magnetic field. We demonstrate the …
Faraday and Kerr rotations are magnetooptical (MO) effects used for rotating the polarization of light in transmission and reflection from a magnetized medium, respectively. MO effects combined with intrinsically fast magnetization reversal, which can go down to a few tens of femtoseconds or less, can be applied in magnetooptical spatial light modulators (MOSLMs) promising for nonvolatile, ultrafast, and high-resolution spatial modulation of light. With the recent progress in low-power switching of magnetic and MO materials, MOSLMs may lead to major breakthroughs and benefit beyond state-of-th…
