Colossal infrared and terahertz magneto-optical activity in a two-dimensional Dirac material.

When two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) are exposed to a magnetic field, they resonantly absorb electromagnetic radiation via electronic transitions between Landau levels. In 2DEGs with a Dirac spectrum, such as graphene, theory predicts an exceptionally high infrared magneto-absorption, even at zero doping. However, the measured Landau-level magneto-optical effects in graphene have been much weaker than expected because of imperfections in the samples available for such experiments.

Suppressed Magnetic Circular Dichroism and Valley-Selective Magnetoabsorption due to the Effective Mass Anisotropy in Bismuth.

We measure the far-infrared reflectivity and Kerr angle spectra on a high-quality crystal of pure semimetallic bismuth as a function of magnetic field, from which we extract the conductivity for left- and right-handed circular polarizations. The high spectral resolution allows us to separate the intraband Landau level transitions for electrons and holes. The hole transition exhibits 100% magnetic circular dichroism; it appears only for one polarization as expected for a circular cyclotron orbit.

Magneto-optical Kramers-Kronig analysis.

We describe a simple magneto-optical experiment and introduce a magneto-optical Kramers-Kronig analysis (MOKKA) that together allow extracting the complex dielectric function for left- and right-handed circular polarizations in a broad range of frequencies without actually generating circularly polarized light. The experiment consists of measuring reflectivity and Kerr rotation, or alternatively transmission and Faraday rotation, at normal incidence using only standard broadband polarizers without retarders or quarter-wave plates. In a common case, where the magneto-optical rotation is small (below ∼0.

Fabry-Perot enhanced Faraday rotation in graphene.

We demonstrate that giant Faraday rotation in graphene in the terahertz range due to the cyclotron resonance is further increased by constructive Fabry-Perot interference in the supporting substrate. Simultaneously, an enhanced total transmission is achieved, making this effect doubly advantageous for graphene-based magneto-optical applications. As an example, we present far-infrared spectra of epitaxial multilayer graphene grown on the C-face of 6H-SiC, where the interference fringes are spectrally resolved and a Faraday rotation up to 0.