Theoretical and Experimental Study of Novel Integrated Non-Reciprocal Magnetoplasmonic Nanostructures.

Abstract

This work studies the enhancement of the transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect by exploiting extraordinary resonances occurring in 1D periodic grating. The 1D periodic gold grating structure was designed, described, numerically simulated and fabricated. A rigorous CoupledWave Algorithm (RCWA) developed for parallel computing is used for the theoretical study of resonant modes in magnetoplasmonic gratings and for analysis of optical and magneto-optical data measured by Mueller matrix ellipsometry. The impact of coupling between Fabry-Perot modes inside grating air-gaps and surface plasmon mode at the interface between gold and MO garnet layer is studied via spectra of specular reflectivity and for the various angles of incidence. In a first step, the optical functions of the (CaMgZr)-doped gallium-gadolinium garnet (sGGG) substrate and the Bisubstituted gadolinium iron garnet (Bi :GIG) are obtained in the spectral range from 0.73 eV to 6.42 eV (wavelength range 193 nm – 1.7 μm). Subsequently, the spectra of the magneto-optical tensor components are obtained by applying an external in-plane magnetic field in longitudinal and transverse geometry. The obtained functions are then used for numerical simulations demonstrating that by hybridization of surface and cavity resonances in this 1D plasmonic grating, the transverse Kerr effect can be further enhanced, extinguished or even switched in sign and that without inverting or modifying the film’s magnetization. To confirm theoretical results a set of samples, gratings with a different width of an air-gap, was fabricated using electron beam lithography and liftoff technique. To be able to reproduce Mueller matrix data from the samples, the models describing realistic structures were further developed and optimized. Experimental measurements of real structures confirm transverse MO effect enhancement using magnetoplasmonic effects and prove applicability of numerical models.