Light reflection from a naturally optically active birefringent medium

Silverman, Mark P.; Badoz, J.

doi:10.1364/josaa.7.001163

Cited by 43 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…By following this procedure the polar magneto-optical contrast cancels out, leading to pure magnetic in-plane response. By this also a possible birefringence or photo-elastic effect resulting from the magnetoelastic interaction cancels for the detection of the pure in-plane magnetisation components, as the reflection coefficients are symmetric for two opposing angles of incidence 36 . Only magnetic contrast changes are visible in the quantitative dynamic in-plane images (Δ m x , Δ m y ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Magnetic domain walls as broadband spin wave and elastic magnetisation wave emitters

Holländer

Müller

Schmalz

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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We report on the direct observation of spin wave and elastic wave emission from magnetic domain walls in ferromagnetic thin films. Driven by alternating homogeneous magnetic fields the magnetic domain walls act as coherent magnetisation wave sources. Directional and low damped elastic waves below and above the ferromagnetic resonance are excited. The wave vector of the magnetoelastically induced acoustic waves is tuned by varying the excitation frequency. The occurrence of elastic wave emission is proved by a combination of micromagnetic and mechanical finite element simulations. Domain wall emitted magnetostatic surface spin waves occur at higher frequencies, which characteristics are confirmed by micromagnetic simulations. The distinct modes of magnetisation wave excitation from micromagnetic objects are a general physical phenomenon relevant for dynamic magnetisation processes in structured magnetic films. Magnetic domain walls can act as reconfigurable antennas for spin wave and elastic wave generation. The wave orientation can be controlled separately via the domain wall orientation for elastic waves and via magnetization orientation for magnetostatic surface spin waves.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Magnetic domain walls as broadband spin wave and elastic magnetisation wave emitters

Holländer

Müller

Schmalz

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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“…12a and 12b provide a lower limit for the expected signal, and observed values could increase by a factor of 4 due to the contribution of alanine present in the icy grains. The contribution from back-scattered ( i.e., reflected) radiation to the CD signal is negligible in this context (Einhorn et al, 1973 ; Silverman and Badoz, 1990 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constraints for Use of Ultraviolet Spectropolarimetry to Detect Chiral Amino Acids from Comets

Castro

Isidro-Gómez

2021

Astrobiology

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Life is pervasive on planet Earth, but whether life is ubiquitous in the Galaxy and sustainable over timescales comparable to stellar evolution is unknown. Evidence suggests that life first appeared on Earth more than 3.77 Gyr ago, during a period of heavy meteoric bombardment. Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, have been demonstrated to exist in interstellar ice. As such, the contribution of space-generated amino acids to those existing on Earth should be considered. However, detection of space amino acids is challenging. In this study, we used analytical data from several meteorites and in situ measurements of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko collected by the Rosetta probe to evaluate the detectability of alanine by ultraviolet spectropolarimetry. Alanine is the second-most abundant amino acid after glycine and is optically active. This chirality produces a unique signature that enables reliable identification of this amino acid using the imprint of optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) and circular dichroism (CD) in the ultraviolet spectrum (130-230 nm). Here, we show that the ORD signature could be detected in comets by using ultraviolet spectropolarimetric observations conducted at middle size space observatories. These observations can also provide crucial information for the study of sources of enantiomeric imbalance on Earth.

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“…crystals of quartz or cinnabar, or solutions of 3D-chiral molecules like sugar or proteins. It is much less well-known that polarization rotation also occurs for reflection from chiral materials [1][2][3] and diffusive scattering from chiral liquids [4]. Just as conventional polarization rotation (transmission circular birefringence) is usually accompanied by different levels of transmission for right-handed and left-handed circularly polarized waves (transmission circular dichroism), polarization rotation in reflection (specular circular birefringence) also goes along with a difference in reflectivity levels for waves of opposite handedness (specular circular dichroism), which was observed, for example, for solutions of camphorquinone [5] and proteins [6] as well as thin films of chiral polyfluorene [7].…”

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confidence: 99%

Specular optical activity of achiral metasurfaces

Plum

Fedotov

Zheludev

2016

Applied Physics Letters

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Optical activity in 3D-chiral media in the form of circular dichroism and birefringence is a fundamental phenomenon that serves as evidence of life forms and is widely used in spectroscopy. Even in 3D-chiral media exhibiting strong transmission optical activity, the reflective effect is weak and sometimes undetectable. Here we report that specular optical activity at structured interfaces can be very strong. Resonant polarization rotation reaching 25 • and reflectivity contrast exceeding 50% for oppositely circularly polarized waves are observed for microwaves reflected by a metasurface with structural elements lacking two-fold rotational symmetry. The effect arises at oblique incidence from a 3D-chiral arrangement of the wave's direction and the metasurface's structure that itself does not possess chiral elements. Specular optical activity of such magnitude is unprecedented. It is fundamentally different from the polarization effects occurring upon scattering, reflection and transmission from surfaces with 2D-chiral patterns. The scale of the effect allows applications in polarization sensitive devices and surface spectroscopies.Optical activity, that is the ability to rotate the polarization state of light (circular birefringence) and differential throughput of circularly polarized waves (circular dichroism), is a fundamental electromagnetic effect of importance in various fields, from analytical chemistry and crystallography to sensors and display applications. Optical activity is usually observed for transmission through structurally 3D-chiral (mirror-asymmetric) media, e.g. crystals of quartz or cinnabar, or solutions of 3D-chiral molecules like sugar or proteins. It is much less well-known that polarization rotation also occurs for reflection from chiral materials [1-3] and diffusive scattering from chiral liquids [4]. Just as conventional polarization rotation (transmission circular birefringence) is usually accompanied by different levels of transmission for right-handed and left-handed circularly polarized waves (transmission circular dichroism), polarization rotation in reflection (specular circular birefringence) also goes along with a difference in reflectivity levels for waves of opposite handedness (specular circular dichroism), which was observed, for example, for solutions of camphorquinone [5] and proteins [6] as well as thin films of chiral polyfluorene [7].Both specular circular birefringence and specular circular dichroism appear to be subtle phenomena, which are hardly acknowledged and remain of little practical importance even if enhanced through multiple reflections [8], see Fig. 1(a). Indeed, in the case of light transmission, optical activity accumulates over the propagation distance and can gain up to several hundred degrees per millimeter. In reflection, however, the phenomenon results from scattering of light by only few atomic/molecular layers located at the interface.In this letter we demonstrate giant specular optical activity for a single reflection. Specular circular birefringenc...

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Light reflection from a naturally optically active birefringent medium

Cited by 43 publications

References 16 publications

Magnetic domain walls as broadband spin wave and elastic magnetisation wave emitters

Magnetic domain walls as broadband spin wave and elastic magnetisation wave emitters

Constraints for Use of Ultraviolet Spectropolarimetry to Detect Chiral Amino Acids from Comets

Specular optical activity of achiral metasurfaces

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