Magnetoplasmonic nanograting geometry enables optical nonreciprocity sign control

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate a disruptive approach to control magnetooptical nonreciprocal effects. It has been known that the combination of a magneto-optically (MO) active substrate and extraordinary transmission (EOT) effects through deep-subwavelength nanoslits of a noble metal grating, leads to giant enhancements of the magnitude of the MO effects that would normally be obtained on just the bar substrate. This was demonstrated both in the transmission configuration, where the OET is directly observed, as well as in reflection configuration, where an increase of a transmitted power results in a decrease in reflected power. We show here that even more than just an enhancement, the MO effects can also undergo a sign reversal by achieving a hybridization of the different types of resonances at play in these EOT nanogratings. By tuning the geometrical profile of the grating's slits, one can engineer - for a fixed wavelength and fixed magnetization - the transverse MO Kerr effect (TMOKE) reflectivity of such a magnetoplasmonic system to be enhanced, extinguished or inversely enhanced. We have fabricated gold gratings with varying nanoslit widths on a Bi-substituted gadolinium iron garnet and experimentally confirmed such a behavior using a customized magneto-optic Mueller matrix ellipsometer. This demonstration allows new design paradigms for integrated nonreciprocal circuits and biochemical sensors with increased sensitivity and reduced footprint.