Necessity of Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking for the Polar Kerr Effect in Linear Response

2015/07/31 by Weejee Cho, Steven A. Kivelson
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Condensed matter physics #Function (biology) #Geometry #Kerr effect #Mathematics #Nonlinear system #Physics #Polar #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Superconductivity #Symmetry (geometry) #Symmetry breaking #T-symmetry #Tensor (intrinsic definition) #cond-mat.str-el #math-ph #math.MP #physics.optics

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.116.093903

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 093903 (2016) · 7 pages, 1 figure. minor changes

arxiv created 2016/02/26 · openalex publication_date 2016/03/03 · arxiv updated 2016/03/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

We show that, measured in a backscattering geometry, the polar Kerr effect is absent if the nonlocal electromagnetic response function respects Onsager symmetry, characteristic of thermodynamic states that preserve time-reversal symmetry. A key element is an expression for the reflectivity tensor in terms of the retarded Green's function.

Citations

• Theory of the Faraday and Kerr Effects in Ferromagnetics
• Impurity-induced polar Kerr effect in a chiralp-wave superconductor
• Reciprocity in reflection and transmission of light
• Proposed Chiral Texture of the Magnetic Moments of Unit-Cell Loop Currents in the Pseudogap Phase of Cuprate Superconductors