Band Structure Near the Dirac Point in HgTe Quantum Wells with Critical Thickness.

Mercury telluride (HgTe) thin films with a critical thickness of 6.5 nm are predicted to possess a gapless Dirac-like band structure. We report a comprehensive study on gated and optically doped samples by magnetooptical spectroscopy in the THz range.

Switching of Magnons by Electric and Magnetic Fields in Multiferroic Borates.

Electric manipulation of magnetic properties is a key problem of materials research. To fulfill the requirements of modern electronics, these processes must be shifted to high frequencies. In multiferroic materials, this may be achieved by electric and magnetic control of their fundamental excitations.

Observation of the universal magnetoelectric effect in a 3D topological insulator.

The electrodynamics of topological insulators (TIs) is described by modified Maxwell's equations, which contain additional terms that couple an electric field to a magnetization and a magnetic field to a polarization of the medium, such that the coupling coefficient is quantized in odd multiples of α/4π per surface. Here we report on the observation of this so-called topological magnetoelectric effect. We use monochromatic terahertz (THz) spectroscopy of TI structures equipped with a semitransparent gate to selectively address surface states.

Universal Faraday Rotation in HgTe Wells with Critical Thickness.

The universal value of the Faraday rotation angle close to the fine structure constant (α≈1/137) is experimentally observed in thin HgTe quantum wells with a thickness on the border between trivial insulating and the topologically nontrivial Dirac phases. The quantized value of the Faraday angle remains robust in the broad range of magnetic fields and gate voltages. Dynamic Hall conductivity of the holelike carriers extracted from the analysis of the transmission data shows a theoretically predicted universal value of σ_{xy}=e^{2}/h, which is consistent with the doubly degenerate Dirac state.

Electric field control of terahertz polarization in a multiferroic manganite with electromagnons.

All-electrical control of a dynamic magnetoelectric effect is demonstrated in a classical multiferroic manganite DyMnO3, a material containing coupled antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric orders. Because of intrinsic magnetoelectric coupling with electromagnons a linearly polarized terahertz light rotates upon passing through the sample. The amplitude and the direction of the polarization rotation are defined by the orientation of ferroelectric domains and can be switched by static voltage.