2005/03/31 by Kei Sawada, Naoto Nagaosa
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.2001735
published as Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 042503 (2005) · 3 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2005/07/25 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
We theoretically propose a method to enhance dramatically a magneto-chiral(MC) effect by using the photonic crystals composed of a multiferroic material. The MC effect, the directional birefringence even for unpolarized light, is so small that it has been difficult to observe experimentally. Two kinds of periodic structures are investigated; (a) a multilayer and (b) a stripe composed of a magneto-chiral material and air. In both cases, the difference in reflectivity between different magnetization directions is enhanced by a factor of hundreds compared with a bulk material.