Plasmonic analog of electromagnetically induced absorption leads to giant thin film Faraday rotation of 14°

Abstract

We demonstrate the realization of a new hybrid magnetoplasmonic thin film structure that resembles the classical optical analog of electromagnetically induced absorption. In transmission geometry our gold nanostructure embedded in an EuS film induces giant Faraday rotation of over 14° for a thickness of less than 200 nm and a magnetic field of 5 T at T = 20 K. By varying the magnetic field from -5 to +5 T, a rotation tuning range of over 25° is realized. As we are only a factor of 3 away from the Faraday isolation requirement, our concept could lead to highly integrated, nonreciprocal photonic devices for light modulation, optical isolation, and optical magnetic field sensing.