Optical magnetoelectric effect in the polar GaFeO3 ferrimagnet -: art. no. 037403

The optical magnetoelectric (ME) effect, i.e., the change of optical absorption upon the reversal of the light propagation direction, has been investigated for a polar ferrimagnet GaFeO3. For dipole- and spin-forbidden d-d transition bands located at 1.2-2.3 eV, a clear signal of the optical ME effect (Deltaalphatsimilar to3x10(-3)) is observed with an applied magnetic field as low as 500 Oe and a sample thickness (t) of 50 mum. The observation of a large ME effect in the present compound suggests a possible route to magnification of this novel phenomenon for application.