The propagation of plane waves in a Faraday chiral medium is investigated. Conditions for the phase velocity to be directed opposite to the direction of power flow are derived for propagation in an arbitrary direction; simplified conditions which apply to propagation parallel to the distinguished axis are also established. These negative phase-velocity conditions are explored numerically using a representative Faraday chiral medium, arising from the homogenization of an isotropic chiral medium and a magnetically biased ferrite. It is demonstrated that the phase velocity may be directed opposite to power flow, provided that the gyrotropic parameter of the ferrite component medium is sufficiently large compared with the corresponding nongyrotropic permeability parameters.
The four wavenumbers associated with planewave propagation in a Faraday chiral medium (FCM) with relatively huge magnetoelectric coupling give rise to enhanced possibilities for negative-phase-velocity propagation and therefore negative refraction. They can also give rise to the phenomenon of negative reflection. In particular, for a nondissipative example, we deduced that an incident plane wave with positive/negative phase velocity can result in a negatively reflected plane wave with negative/positive phase velocity, as well as a positively reflected plane wave with positive/negative phase ve…
It is shown that the monochromatic optical wave propagating through the medium with linear birefringence in presence of a signal electromagnetic wave (whose wavelength is equal to the polarization beats length), displays Faraday rotation having the frequency of the signal wave and unsuppressed by linear birefringence. The effect is resonant with respect to the frequency of a signal wave. The "sharpness" of the resonance is defined by length of the birefringent medium.
Temporal Faraday effect enabled by Floquet-induced chirality
State Key Laboratory of Radio Frequency Heterogeneous Integration, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University（深圳大学物理与光电工程学院射频异质集成国家重点实验室）
The inverse Faraday effect is a magneto-optical process allowing the magnetization of matter by an optical excitation carrying a non-zero spin or orbital moment of light. This phenomenon was considered until now as symmetric; right or left circular polarizations generate magnetic fields oriented in the direction of light propagation or in the counter-propagating direction. Here, we demonstrate that by manipulating the spin density of light in a plasmonic nanostructure, we generate a chiral inverse Faraday effect, creating a strong magnetic field of 500 mT only for one helicity of the light, th…
We first derive the round-trip Jones matrix for double passage through a reciprocal optical medium by means of reflection off a plane mirror that could be optically anisotropic. We then show that if a medium with only linear birefringence and linear dichroism is placed between a pair of orthogonal quarterwave plates with principal axes at 45 deg to that of the medium and the sandwich is placed in front of an isotropic mirror it behaves, under double passage, like an isotropic medium. We describe a simple liquid crystal device that behaves, in reflection, as an isotropic medium whose refractive…
In this paper, matters considering the immersion of gold nanoparticles inside a magnetic medium are investigated experimentally and theoretically. Three samples with periodic arrays of Au cylinders where studied: particles on a surface of the magnetic dielectric film, inside the magnetic film and directly under the magnetic film. The largest LSPR mediated Faraday rotation resonance enhancement takes place for the case of the nanoparticles submerged inside the magnetic film. Optimal place for nanoparticles is under the magnetic medium surface at 6 nm deep in the considered configurations. It is…
The Faraday rotation angle is calculated in a diffusive regime in a three dimensional disordered slab. It is shown that it is an oscillating function of the magnetic field or the mediums internal properties, and is proportional to the ratio of the inelastic mean free path to the mean free path, that is to the average number of photon scatterings. The maximum rotation is achieved at frequencies when the photons elastic mean free path is minimal. We have obtained the rotation angle of polar backscattered light taking into account the maximally crossed diagrams. The latter leads to an ellipticity…
The transmission of electromagnetic wave through the planar chiral structure, loaded with the gyrotropic medium on the longitudinal magnetic field is studied. The frequency dependence of the metamaterial resonance and the angle of rotation of the polarization plane are obtained. We define both theoretically and experimentally the range of frequencies and magnetic fields, where the angle of polarization plane rotation for the metamaterial is essentially higher than for a single ferrite slab.
We report the first experiential observation and theoretical analysis of the new phenomenon of planar chiral circular conversion dichroism, which in some aspects resembles the Faraday effect in magnetized media, but does not require the presence of a magnetic field for its observation. It results from the interaction of an electromagnetic wave with a planar chiral structure patterned on the sub-wavelength scale, and manifests itself in asymmetric transmission of circularly polarized waves in the opposite directions through the structure and elliptically polarized eigenstates. The new effect is…
A medium which is an isotropic chiral medium from the perspective of a co-moving observer is a Faraday chiral medium (FCM) from the perspective of a non-co-moving observer. The Tellegen constitutive relations for this FCM are established. By an extension of the Beltrami field concept, these constitutive relations are exploited to show that planewave propagation is characterized by four generally independent wavenumbers. This FCM can support negative phase velocity at certain translational velocities and with certain wavevectors, even though the corresponding isotropic chiral medium does not. T…
The phase velocity of plane waves propagating in an isotropic chiral medium can be simultaneously positive for left-circularly polarized light and negative for right-circularly polarized light(or vice versa). The constitutive parameter regimes supporting this phenomenon are established for nondissipative and dissipative mediums. The boundary between positive and negative phase velocity is characterized by infinite phase velocity.
We consider the energy and helicity densities of circularly polarised light within a lossless chiral medium, characterised by the chirality parameter $β$. A form for the helicity density is introduced, valid to first order in $β$, that produces a helicity of $\pm\hbar$ per photon for right and left circular polarisation, respectively. This is in contrast to the result obtained if we use the form of the helicity density employed for linear media. We examine the helicity continuity equation, and show that this modified form of the helicity density is required for consistency with the dual symmet…
The propagation of plane waves in an isotropic chiral medium (ICM) is investigated. Simple conditions are derived--in terms of the constitutive parameters of the ICM--for the phase velocity to be directed opposite to the direction of power flow. It is demonstrated that phase velocity and power flow may be oppositely directed provided that the magnetoelectric coupling is sufficiently strong.
Rotation of the plane of the polarization of light in the presence of a magnetic-field, known as the Faraday rotation, is a consequence of the electromagnetic nature of light and has been utilized in many optical devices. Current efforts aim to realize the ultrafast Faraday rotation on a sub-picosecond time scale. Thereby, the Faraday medium should allow an ultrafast process by which in the presence of an ultrashort intense magnetic-field, the light polarization rotates. We meet these criteria by applying an intense single cycle THz magnetic-field to simple molecular liquids and demonstrate th…
In this letter, we present the first experimental study of a new chiral metamaterial consisting of toroidal wire windings. We show that the metamaterial exhibits three bands of circular dichroism in the GHz range. We discuss the response of the structure in terms of multipole moments, including the (magnetic) toroidal dipole moment.
Analysis of electromagnetic planewave propagation in a medium which is a spatiotemporally homogeneous, temporally nonlocal, isotropic, chiral medium in a co-moving frame of reference shows that the medium is both spatially and temporally nonlocal with respect to all non-co-moving inertial frames of reference. Using the Lorentz transformations of electric and magnetic fields, we show that plane waves which have positive phase velocity in the co-moving frame of reference can have negative phase velocity in certain non-co-moving frames of reference. Similarly, plane waves which have negative phas…
Sensing chirality is of fundamental importance to many fields, including analytical and biological chemistry, pharmacology, and fundamental physics. Recent developments have extended optical chiral sensing using microwaves, fs pulses, superchiral light, and photoionization. The most widely used methods are the traditional methods of circular dichroism and optical rotation (OR). However, chiral signals are typically very weak, and their measurement is limited by larger time-dependent backgrounds and by imperfect and slow subtraction procedures. Here, we demonstrate a pulsed-laser bowtie-cavity-…
We study Chiral Based Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (CBEIT) of a light pulse and its associated subluminal and superluminal behavior through a cold and a hot medium of 4-level \textit{double-Lambda type} atomic system. The dynamical behavior of this chiral based system is temperature dependent. The magnetic field based chirality and dispersion is always opposite as compared with the electric field ones. Contrastingly, the response of the chiral effect along with the incoherence Doppler broadening mechanism enhances the superluminal behavior as compared with its traditional degrading…
We have derived a dispersion relation governing the surface plasmon resonance established along a planar interface between a metal and a chiral medium (chiral case). Resulting numerical solutions are compared with the well-known results obtained for a metal-dielectric interface (achiral case). Comparisons show that the chiral case exhibits smaller phase speeds than the achiral case. Such a longitudinal deceleration in the chiral case is caused by the energy expended on establishing the longitudinal spin density, which turns out anti-symmetric with respect to medium chirality. Moreover, the low…
Since the discovery of backward-wave materials, people have tried to realize strong chiral medium, which is traditionally thought impossible mainly for the reason of energy and spatial dispersion. We compare the two most popular descriptions of chiral medium. After analyzing several possible reasons for the traditional restriction, we show that strong chirality parameter leads to positive energy without any frequency-band limitation in the weak spatial dispersion. Moreover, strong chirality does not result in a strong spatial dispersion, which occurs only around the traditional limit point. Fo…
The solution of a boundary-value problem formulated for a modified Kretschmann configuration shows that a surface-plasmon wave can be excited at the planar interface of a sufficiently thin metal film and a nondissipative structurally chiral medium, provided the exciting plane wave is p-polarized. An estimate of the wavenumber of the surface-plasmon wave also emerges thereby.
Negative real parts of the permittivity and permeability lead an isotropic chiral medium to exhibit circular dichroism that is reversed with respect to that exhibited by an identical medium but the real parts of whose permittivity and permeability are positive.
