Subkhangulov, R. R. and Mikhaylovskiy, Rostislav and Zvezdin, A. K. and Kruglyak, V.V. and Rasing, Th. and Kimel, A.V. (2016) Terahertz modulation of the Faraday rotation by laser pulses via the optical Kerr effect. Nature Photonics, 10. 111–114. ISSN 1749-4885
Subkhangulov_NatPhot_2016_accepted.pdf - Accepted Version
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Abstract
The magneto-optical Faraday effect played a crucial role in the elucidation of the electromagnetic nature of light. Today it is powerful means to probe magnetism and the basic operational principle of magneto-optical modulators. Understanding the mechanisms allowing for modulation of the magneto-optical response at terahertz frequencies may have far-reaching consequences for photonics, ultrafast optomagnetism and magnonics, as well as for future development of ultrafast Faraday modulators. Here we suggest a conceptually new approach for an ultrafast tunable magneto-optical modulation with the help of counter-propagating laser pulses. Using terbium gallium garnet (Tb3Ga5O12) we demonstrate the feasibility of such magneto-optical modulation with a frequency up to 1.1 THz, which is continuously tunable by means of an external magnetic field. Besides the novel concept for ultrafast magneto-optical polarization modulation, our findings reveal the importance of accounting for propagation effects in the interpretation of pump–probe magneto-optical experiments.