Giant Magneto-optical Kerr Effect and Universal Faraday Effect in Thin-film Topological Insulators

Details Giant Magneto-optical Kerr Effect and Universal Faraday Effect in Thin-film Topological Insulators Giant Magneto-optical Kerr Effect and Universal Faraday Effect in Thin-film Topological Insulators

2010-03-11

arxiv.org/abs/1003.2260v2

Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 057401 (2010) [Editor's suggestion]. See also accompanying Viewpoint article

Physics

Condensed Matter

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

5 pages, 4 figures

Scientific paper

Topological insulators can exhibit strong magnetoelectric effects when their time-reversal symmetry is broken. In this Letter we consider the magneto-optical Kerr and Faraday effects of a topological insulator thin film weakly exchange-coupled to a ferromagnet. We find that its Faraday rotation has a universal value at low-frequencies, $\theta_{\mathrm{F}} = \mathrm{tan}^{-1}\,\alpha$ where $\alpha$ is the vacuum fine structure constant, and that it has a giant Kerr rotation $\theta_{\mathrm{K}} = \pi/2$. These properties follow from a delicate interplay between thin-film cavity confinement and the surface Hall conductivity of a topological insulator's helical quasiparticles.

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