Enhanced magneto-optical effects in magnetoplasmonic crystals

• Published in: Nature nanotechnology Vol. 6; no. 6; pp. 370 - 376
• Main Authors: Belotelov, V. I., Akimov, I. A., Pohl, M., Kotov, V. A., Kasture, S., Vengurlekar, A. S., Gopal, Achanta Venu, Yakovlev, D. R., Zvezdin, A. K., Bayer, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 24.04.2011; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/925/357/997; 639/925/927/1021; Chemistry and Materials Science; Computer Simulation; Crystals; Data storage; Electronics; Electrons; Ferric Compounds - chemistry; Gold; Gold - chemistry; Light; Magnetic fields; Magnetics; Materials Science; Metals; Metals - chemistry; Nanoparticles - chemistry; Nanostructures - chemistry; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Optics; Optics and Photonics; Physics; Surface Plasmon Resonance - instrumentation; Telecommunications; Russia
• ISSN: 1748-3387; 1748-3395
• DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2011.54

Plasmonics allows light to be localized on length scales much shorter than its wavelength, which makes it possible to integrate photonics and electronics on the nanoscale. Magneto-optical materials are appealing for applications in plasmonics because they open up the possibility of using external magnetic fields in plasmonic devices. Here, we fabricate a new magneto-optical material, a magnetoplasmonic crystal, that consists of a nanostructured noble-metal film on top of a ferromagnetic dielectric, and we demonstrate an enhanced Kerr effect with this material. Such magnetoplasmonic crystals could have applications in telecommunications, magnetic field sensing and all-optical magnetic data storage. A new magneto-optical material consisting of a nanostructured gold film on top of a ferromagnetic dielectric demonstrated significantly enhanced Faraday and Kerr effects.