Crystal optics of magnetoelectrics

Abstract

The presence in magnetoelecttics of the specific space-time symmetry operation 1′ allows the existence of several new optical phenomena that may occur in transmission and reflection. Among those are the nonreciprocal gyrotropic birefringence, the rotation of optical indicatrix, the nonreciprocal reflection, the electric field induced nonreciprocal rotation. Theoretical aspects and experimental observations of some of these effects in Cr₂O₃ are discussed. Nonlinear optical phenomena that can occur due to magnetoelectric interaction are also discussed (BiFeO₃, magnetic garnet films). At the end we discuss unusual electromagnetooptical phenomena, observed experimentally in noncentrosymmetric crystals in the presence of magnetic field (CsCuCl₃, LIIO₃, Pb₅Ge₃O₁₁, Cd_1–xMn_xTe, Te).

Key Words:

• Propagation of light in magnetoelectrics
• nonreciprocal effects.