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We report a giant enhancement of the mid-infrared (MIR) magneto-optical complex Kerr angle (polarization change of reflected light) in a variety of materials grown on SiC. In epitaxially-grown multilayer graphene, the Kerr angle is enhanced by a factor of 68, which is in good agreement with Kerr signal modeling. Strong Kerr enhancement is also observed in Fe films grown on SiC and Al-doped bulk SiC. Our experiments and modelling indicate that the enhancement occurs at the high-energy edge of the SiC reststrahlen band where the real component of the complex refractive index n % passes through unity. Furthermore, since the signal is greatly enhanced when 1 n = % , the enhancement is predicted to exist over the entire visible/infrared (IR) spectrum for a free-standing film. We also predict similar giant enhancement in both Faraday (transmission) and Kerr rotation for thin films on a metamaterial substrate with refractive index 1 n = − % . This work demonstrates that the substrate used in MOKE measurements must be carefully chosen when investigating magneto-optical materials with weak MOKE signals or when designing MOKE-based optoelectronic devices.

By measuring the polarization changes in THz, infrared, and visible radiation over an extended energy range (3-2330 meV), we observe symmetrybreaking in cuprate high temperature superconductors over wide energy, doping, and temperature ranges. We measure the polarization rotation (Re[F]) and ellipticity (Im[F]) of transmitted radiation though thin films as the sample is rotated. We observe a two-fold rotational symmetry in F, which is associated with

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