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

Abstract

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 TN=46 K. In the off-diagonal elements, spectral generalized magneto-optical ellipsometry shows sensitivity to the antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric phase transitions at TN=46 K and TF=29 K, respectively, and a persistent signal up to 6TN.