2023/08/17 by V. Ortiz, Shashi B. Mishra, Ortiz, Víctor H. +7 · 1 citation
Computer Science · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Magneto-Optical Properties and Applications #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Neural Networks and Reservoir Computing #Quantum optics and atomic interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2308.09150
openalex publication_date 2023/08/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The inverse Faraday effect is an opto-magnetic phenomenon that describes the ability of circularly polarized light to induce magnetism in solids. The capability of light to control magnetic order in solid state materials and devices is of interest for a variety of applications, such as magnetic recording, quantum computation and spintronic technologies. However, significant gaps in understanding about the effect persist, such as what material properties govern the magnitude of the effect in metals. In this work, we report time-resolved measurements of the specular inverse Faraday effect in non-magnetic metals, i.e., the magneto-optic Kerr effect induced by circularly polarized light. We measure this specular inverse Faraday effect in Cu, Pd, Pt, W, Ta, and Au at a laser wavelength of 783 nm. For Ta and W, we investigate both α and \beta phases. We observe that excitation of these metals with circularly polarized light induces significant circular dichroism. This nonlinear magneto-optical response to circularly polarized light is an order of magnitude larger in α-W than other metals, e.g., Pt, Au, and is greater than nearly all other reported values for IFE in other materials. Our results benchmark the range of IFE that can be observed in non-magnetic metals and provide insight into what material properties govern the inverse Faraday effect in metals.