Utilisateur:ChichiSy/Brouillon

Schematic of the polar Kerr effect, longitudinal Kerr effect and the Voigt effect

The Voigt effect is a magneto-optical phenomenon which rotates and elliptizes a linearly polarised light. Unlike many other magneto-optical effects such as the Kerr or Faraday effect which are linearly proportional to the magnetization (or to the applied magnetic field for a non magnetized material), the Voigt effect is proportional to the square of the magnetization (or square of the magnetic field) and can be seen experimentally at normal incidence. Commonly in literature, one can find several denomination for this effect such as Cotton-Moutton effect (in reference of french scientists Aimé Cotton and Henri Mouton), the Voigt effect (in reference of the German scientist Woldemar Voigt) or also as magnetic-linear birefringence. This last denomination is closer from the physical sense where the Voigt effect is a magnetic birefringence of the material with an indice of refraction parallel ($n_{\parallel }$) and perpendicular $(n_{\perp }$) to the magnetization vector or to the applied magnetic field.

For an electromagnetic wave with a linear incident polarisation ${\vec {E_{i}}}={\begin{pmatrix}\cos \beta \\\sin \beta \\0\end{pmatrix}}e^{-i\omega (t-n_{1}z/c)}$ and a sample which exhibit an in-plane magnetized sample ${\vec {m}}={\begin{pmatrix}\cos \phi \\\sin \phi \\0\end{pmatrix}}$ , the expression of the rotation $\delta \beta$ is :

$$\delta \beta =Re{\Big [}{\frac {B_{1}+n_{0}^{2}Q^{2}}{2n_{0}(n_{0}^{2}-1)}}{\Big ]}\sin[2(\phi -\beta )]$$

where $Q$ is the Voigt parameter (same as for the Kerr effect), $n_{0}$ the material refraction indices and $B_{1}$ the parameter responsible of the Voigt effect. Detailed calculation and an illustration are given in section below.

Theory

Framework and coordinate system for the derivation of Voigt effect. ${\vec {E}}_{i}$, ${\vec {E}}_{r}$ and ${\vec {E}}_{t}$ are referring to the incident, reflected and transmitted electromagnetic field

As the others magneto-optical effect, the theory is developped in a standard way with the utilisation of an effective dielectric tensor from which we calculate eigenvalues and eigenvectors.

Here, we consider an incident polarisation with ${\vec {E_{i}}}={\begin{pmatrix}\cos \beta \\\sin \beta \\0\end{pmatrix}}e^{-i\omega (t-n_{1}z/c)}$ the electric field and a homogenously in-plane magnetized sample ${\vec {m}}={\begin{pmatrix}\cos \phi \\\sin \phi \\0\end{pmatrix}}$ where $\phi$ is referred from the [100] crystallographic direction. The aim is to calculate ${\vec {E_{r}}}={\begin{pmatrix}\cos \beta +\delta \beta \\\sin \beta +\delta \beta \\0\end{pmatrix}}e^{-i\omega (t+n_{1}z/c)}$ where $\delta \beta$ is the rotation of polarization due to the coupling of the light with the magnetization. Let us notice that $\delta \beta$ is experimentally a small quantity of the order of mrad. ${\vec {m}}$ is the reduced magnetization vector defined by ${\vec {m}}={\vec {M}}/M_{s}$ , $M_{s}$ the magnetization at saturation.

Dielectric tensor

Following the notation of Hubert, the generalized dielectric cubic tensor $\epsilon _{r}$ take the following form :

$$(1)\qquad \epsilon _{r}=\epsilon {\begin{bmatrix}1&0&iQm_{y}\\0&1&-iQm_{x}\\-iQm_{y}&iQm_{x}&1\end{bmatrix}}+{\begin{bmatrix}B_{1}m_{x}^{2}&B_{2}m_{x}m_{y}&0\\B_{2}m_{x}m_{y}&B_{1}m_{y}^{2}&0\\0&0&B_{1}m_{z}^{2}\end{bmatrix}}$$

where $\epsilon$ is the material dielectric constant, $Q$ the Voigt parameter, $B_{1}$ and $B_{2}$ two cubic constants describing magneto-optical effect depending of $m_{i}^{2}$. $m_{i}$ is the reduce $m_{i}=M_{i}/M_{s}$. Calculation is made in the spherical approximation with $B_{1}=B_{2}$ . At the present moment, there is no evidence that this approximation is not valid, as the observation of Voigt effect is rare because extremely small with respect to the Kerr effect.

Eigenvalues and eigenvectors

To calculate the eigenvalues and eigenvectors, we consider the propagation equation derived from the Maxwell equations, with the convention ${\vec {n}}={\vec {k}}c/\omega$ .  :

$$(2)\qquad n^{2}{\vec {E}}-{\vec {n}}({\vec {n}}\cdot {\vec {E}})=\epsilon {\vec {E}}$$

When the magnetization is perpendicular to the propagation wavevector, on the contrary of the Kerr effect, ${\vec {E}}$ may have all his three components equals to zero making calculations rather more complicated and Fresnels equations are no longer valid. A way to simplify the problem consist to use the electric field displacement vector ${\vec {D}}=\epsilon {\vec {E}}$ . Since ${\vec {\nabla }}\cdot {\vec {D}}=0$ and ${\vec {k}}\parallel {\vec {z}}$ we have ${\vec {D}}={\begin{pmatrix}D_{x}\\D_{y}\\0\end{pmatrix}}$ . The inconvenient is to deal with the inverse dielectric tensor which may be complicated to handle.

Eigenvalues and eigenvectors are found by solving the propagation equation on ${\vec {D}}$ which gives the following system of equation :

$$(3)\quad \left\{{\begin{matrix}(\epsilon _{xx}^{-1}-{\frac {1}{n^{2}}})D_{x}+\epsilon _{xy}^{-1}D_{y}=0\\\\\epsilon _{yx}^{-1}D_{x}+(\epsilon _{yy}^{-1}-{\frac {1}{n^{2}}})D_{y}=0\end{matrix}}\right.$$

where $\epsilon _{ij}^{-1}$ represent the inverse $ij$ element of the dielectric tensor $\epsilon _{r}$, and $n^{2}=\epsilon$. After a straightforward calculation of the system's determinant, one has to make a developpement on 2nd order in $Q$ and first order of $B_{1}$. This lead to the two eigenvalues corresponding the two refraction indices :

$$n_{\parallel }^{2}=\epsilon +B_{1}$$

$$n_{\perp }^{2}=\epsilon (1-Q^{2})$$

The corresponding eigenvectors for ${\vec {D}}$ and for ${\vec {E}}$ are :

$$(4)\qquad {\vec {D}}_{\parallel }={\begin{pmatrix}\cos(\phi )\\\sin(\phi )\\0\end{pmatrix}}\qquad {\vec {D}}_{\perp }={\begin{pmatrix}-\sin(\phi )\\\cos(\phi )\\0\end{pmatrix}}\qquad {\vec {E}}_{\parallel }=\epsilon ^{-1}{\vec {D}}_{\parallel }={\begin{pmatrix}{\frac {\cos(\phi )}{B1+\epsilon }}\\{\frac {\sin(\phi )}{B1+\epsilon }}\\0\end{pmatrix}}\qquad {\vec {E}}_{\perp }=\epsilon ^{-1}{\vec {D}}_{\perp }={\begin{pmatrix}{\frac {\sin(\phi )}{(Q^{2}-1)\epsilon }}\\{\frac {\cos(\phi )}{(1-Q^{2})\epsilon }}\\{\frac {-iQ}{(1-Q^{2})\epsilon }}\end{pmatrix}}$$

Reflection geometry

Continuity relation

Knowing the eigenvectors and eigenvalues inside the material, one have to calculate ${\vec {E_{r}}}={\begin{pmatrix}E_{rx}\\E_{ry}\\0\end{pmatrix}}$ the reflected electromagnetic vector usually detected in experiments. We use the continuity equations for ${\vec {E}}$ and ${\vec {H}}$ where ${\vec {H}}$ is the induction defined from Maxwell equation by ${\vec {\nabla }}\times {\vec {H}}={\frac {1}{c}}{\frac {\partial {\vec {D}}}{\partial t}}$. Inside the medium, the electromagnetic field is decomposed on the derived eigenvectors ${\vec {E}}_{t}=\alpha {\vec {E}}_{\parallel }+\beta {\vec {E}}_{\perp }$. The system of equation to solve is :

$$(5)\quad \left\{{\begin{matrix}\alpha {\Big (}{\frac {D_{y\parallel }}{n_{\parallel }}}{\Big )}+\beta {\Big (}{\frac {D_{y\perp }}{n_{\perp }}}{\Big )}+E_{ry}=E_{0y}\\\\\alpha {\Big (}{\frac {D_{x\parallel }}{n_{\parallel }}}{\Big )}+\beta {\Big (}{\frac {D_{x\perp }}{n_{\perp }}}{\Big )}+E_{rx}=E_{0x}\\\\\alpha E_{x\parallel }+\beta E_{x\perp }-E_{rx}=E_{0x}\\\\\alpha E_{y\parallel }+\beta E_{y\perp }-E_{ry}=E_{0y}\end{matrix}}\right.$$

The solution of this system of equation are :

$$E_{rx}=E_{0}{\frac {(1-n_{\perp }n_{\parallel })\cos(\beta )+(n_{\perp }-n_{\parallel })\cos(\beta -2\phi )}{(1+n_{\parallel })(1+n_{\perp })}}$$

$$E_{ry}=E_{0}{\frac {(1-n_{\perp }n_{\parallel })\sin(\beta )-(n_{\perp }-n_{\parallel })\sin(\beta -2\phi )}{(1+n_{\parallel })(1+n_{\perp })}}$$

Calculation of rotation angle

The rotation angle $\delta \beta$ and the ellipticity angle $\psi$ are defined from the ratio $\chi =E_{ry}/E_{rx}$ with the two following formula :

$$\tan 2\delta \beta ={\frac {2Re(\chi )}{1-|\chi |^{2}}}\qquad \sin(2\psi _{K})={\frac {2{\text{Im}}(\chi )}{1-|\chi |^{2}}}$$

where $Re(\chi )$ and $Im(\chi )$ represent the real and imaginary part of $\chi$. Using the two previously calculated component, one obtain :

$$(6)\qquad \chi ={\frac {(B_{1}+n_{0}^{2}Q^{2})}{2n_{0}(n_{0}^{2}-1)}}{\frac {\sin[2(\phi -\beta )]}{\cos(\beta )^{2}}}+\tan(\beta )$$

This gives for the Voigt rotation :

$$(7)\qquad \delta \beta =Re{\Big [}{\frac {B_{1}+n_{0}^{2}Q^{2}}{2n_{0}(n_{0}^{2}-1)}}{\Big ]}\sin[2(\phi -\beta )]$$

Transmission geometry

The calculation of the rotation of the Voigt effect in transmission is in principle equivalent to the one of the Faraday effect. Let's consider the transmitted electromagnetic waves ${\vec {E}}_{t}$ propagating in a medium of length L.

Illustration of Voigt effect in GaMnAs

a) Experimental hysteresis cycle on a planar (Ga,Mn)As sample b) Voigt hysteresis cycle obtained by extracting the symetric part of (a). c) Longitudinal Kerr obtained by extracting the asymetric part of (a)

a) Switching mechanism of an in-plane (Ga,Mn)As sample for a magnetic field applied along the [1-10] axe at 12 K. b) Voigt signal simulated from the mechanism showed in a)

As an illustration of the application of Voigt effect, we give an example in the magnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As were a giant Voigt effect was observed. At low temperature (without entering in detail, in general for $T<{\frac {T_{c}}{2}}$) for a material with an in-plane magnetization, (Ga,Mn)As exhibit a biaxial anisotropy with the magnetization aligned along (or close to) <100> directions.

A typical hysteresis cycle containing the Voigt effect is shown in the figure (). This cycle was obtained by sending a linearly polarized light along the [110] direction with an incident angle of approximately 3°, and measuring the rotation due to magneto-optical effects of the reflected light beam. As one can see, on the contrary of common longitudinal/polar Kerr effect, the hysteresis cycle is even with respect to the magnetization which is a signature of the Voigt effect. Nevertheless this cycle was obtained with a light incidence very close to normal, it exhibits also a small odd part and a correct treatment has to be carried out in order to extract the symetric part of the hysteris corresponding to the Voigt effect, and the asymetric corresponding to the longitudinal Kerr effect.

In the case of the hysteresis presented here, the field was applied along the [1-10] direction. The switching mechanism is as follow :

1. We start with a high negative field and the magnetization is close to the [-1-10] direction at position 1.
2. The magnetic field is decreasing leading to a coherent magnetization rotation from 1 to 2
3. At positive field, the magnetization switch brutally from 2 to 3 by nucleation and propagation of magnetic domains giving a first coercive field named here $H_{1}$
4. The magnetization stay close to the state 3 while rotating coherently to the state 4, closer from the applied field direction.
5. Again the magnetization switches abruptly from 4 to 5 by nucleation and propagation of magnetic domains. This switching is due to the fact that the final equilibrium position is closer from the state 5 with respect to the state 4 (and so his magnetic energy is lower). This gives another coercive field named $H_{2}$
6. Finaly the magnetization rotates coherently from the state 5 to the state 6.

The simulation of this scenario is given in the figure b, with $Re{\Big [}{\frac {B_{1}+n_{0}^{2}Q^{2}}{2n_{0}(n_{0}^{2}-1)}}{\Big ]}P_{Voigt}=0.5mrad$. As one can see, the simulated hysteresis is qualitatively the same with respect to the experimental one. Nottice that the amplitude at $H_{1}$ or $H_{2}$ are approximately twice of $P_{Voigt}$

See also

• Faraday effect
• Atomic line filter
• Cotton-Mouton effect

Further reading

• Zhao, Zhong-Quan. Excited state atomic line filters. Retrieved March 26, 2006.