Polarization proximity effect in isolator crystal pairs

Abstract

We experimentally studied the polarization dynamics (orientation and ellipticity) of near infrared light transmitted through magnetooptic Yttrium Iron Garnet crystal pairs using a modified balanced detection scheme. When the pair separation is in the sub-millimeter range, we observed a proximity effect in which the saturation field is reduced by up to 20%. 1D magnetostatic calculations suggest that the proximity effect originates from magnetostatic interactions between the dipole moments of the isolator crystals. This substantial reduction of the saturation field is potentially useful for the realization of low-power integrated magneto-optical devices.

Magneto-optical Control of Light Collapse in Bulk Kerr Media

“…4(c-e)], with the largest collapse-acceleration effect recorded at a magnetic field of H = 400 G [see Fig. 4(d)], corresponding to half the saturation field of YIG [17]. This observation agrees with the fact that, when YIG is excited by light traveling perpendicular to the magnetic field, the linear birefringence is stronger than its circular counterpart [14,15].…”

“…For wavevector components parallel to the magnetic field, the Faraday effect induces different refractive indices for the RCP and LCP waves (i.e., circular birefringence), with a respective polarization phase retardation of 2 µm/cm at the saturation level [16]. While the Faraday effect is predominant in the k H geometry [17], it is weaker in the present setting, as only near the collapse point the wavevectors feature significant lateral components. An estimation corresponding to the case shown in Figs.…”

“…The interplay between birefringence and nonlinearity is known to induce coupling of the polarization rotation and a characteristic temporal evolution of solitons in optical fibers [13]. In this paper, we explore the birefringence as a tool for the "management" of the collapse of (2+1)D beams, which may be relatively easily implemented in affordable experimental conditions by using magneto-optical (MO) effects [14,15,16,17], while avoiding reflection losses. To this end, we present numerical and experimental studies of the combined effects of linear and circular birefringences on the dynamics of collapsing beams in a bulk self-focusing Kerr medium.…”

“…Ref. [17]. These cubic dielectric crystals are highly transparent for optical signals in the near-infrared and exhibit large MO transmission coefficients, owing to their ferrimagnetic phase [15,16].…”

“…5(a) and 5(b), even though the theoretical model did not take into consideration magnetically-induced losses. Specifically, the Cotton-Mouton effect is always accompanied by linear magnetic dichroism [15], and the Faraday effect entails circular magnetic dichroism [16,17], both of which are weak but present at λ = 1.2 µm.…”