Ultrafast optical Faraday effect in transparent solids

Wismer, Michael S.; Stockman, Mark I. und Yakovlev, Vladislav S. (2017): Ultrafast optical Faraday effect in transparent solids. In: Physical Review B, Bd. 96, Nr. 22, 224301

Abstract

We predict a strong-field ultrafast optical Faraday effect in which a circularly polarized ultrashort optical pulse induces transient chirality in an achiral transparent dielectric. This effect is attractive for time-resolved measurements because it gives access to the noninstantaneity of the nonlinear medium response, and also because it represents a relaxation of time-reversal symmetry by all-optical means. We propose probing the induced transient chirality with a weak linearly polarized ultraviolet pulse that is shorter than the near-infrared pump pulse. The predicted effects are ultrafast: the induced chirality vanishes for probe delays exceeding the duration of the near-infrared pulse. This opens up possibilities for applications in ultrafast circular-polarization modulators and analyzers.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Physik
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 530 Physik
• ISSN: 2469-9950
• Sprache: Englisch