Inverse Faraday Effect in Ferrite–Garnet Films in the Near-Infrared Range

Abstract

The magneto-optical Faraday effect is determined by the electric dipole and magnetic dipole transitions in a transparent magnetic material. At the same time, the inverse Faraday effect is still described by an expression that includes only electric dipole transitions. The magnetic dipole contribution to the inverse Faraday effect is considered theoretically, and the dependence of the inverse Faraday effect on the wavelength in the near-infrared range (where the magnetic dipole contribution becomes significant) is obtained by the example of a ferrite–garnet film. It is shown that, although both contributions to the inverse Faraday effect always take place for homogeneous films, only the magnetic-dipole inverse Faraday effect manifests itself for films with a periodic nanostructure upon excitation by a TE waveguide mode, which may be useful for its experimental observation.