Magneto-optical study of the spin-polarized electronic states in multiferroic TbMnO3

The magnetic and electronic properties of multiferroic TbMnO3 in the paramagnetic, antiferromagnetic, sinusoidal, and spiral-spin phases were studied by spectral generalized magneto-optical ellipsometry. The measurements show a strong anisotropy of the dielectric tensor. A redistribution of spectral weight was observed in the diagonal components of the dielectric tensor for the temperature range from 110 to T-N = 46 K. In the off-diagonal elements, spectral generalized magneto-optical ellipsometry shows sensitivity to the antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric phase transitions at T-N = 46 K and T-F = 29 K, respectively, and a persistent signal up to 6T(N).