Topological Faraday Effect for Optical Vortices in Magnetic Films

Here we experimentally demonstrate the topological Faraday effect-the polarization rotation caused by the orbital angular momentum of light. It is found that the Faraday effect of the optical vortex beam passing through a transparent magnetic dielectric film differs from the Faraday effect for a plane wave. The additional contribution to the Faraday rotation depends linearly on the topological charge and radial number of the beam. The effect is explained in terms of the optical spin-orbit interaction. These findings underline the importance of using the optical vortex beams for studies of magnetically ordered materials.

Automated summary

We experimentally demonstrate the topological Faraday effect caused by the orbital angular momentum of light. The Faraday effect for an optical vortex beam passing through a transparent magnetic dielectric film is different from that for a plane wave. The additional contribution to the Faraday rotation depends linearly on the topological charge and radial number of the beam. These findings highlight the importance of using optical vortex beams for studying magnetically ordered materials.