Relationship of Time Reversal Symmetry Breaking with Optical Kerr Rotation

Abstract

We prove an instance of the Reciprocity Theorem that demonstrates that Kerr rotation, also known as the magneto-optical Kerr effect, may only arise in materials that break microscopic time reversal symmetry. This argument applies in the linear response regime, and only fails for nonlinear effects. Recent measurements with a modified Sagnac Interferometer have found finite Kerr rotation in a variety of superconductors. The Sagnac Interferometer is a probe for nonreciprocity, so it must be that time reversal symmetry is broken in these materials.

arXiv comment6 pages

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• Gyrotropic magnetic effect and the magnetic moment on the Fermi surface
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• Room-temperature chiral charge pumping in Dirac semimetals
• Tilted loop currents in cuprate superconductors
• Kerr effect as evidence of gyrotropic order in the cuprates - revisited
• Notes on Constraints for the Observation of Polar Kerr Effect in Complex Materials
• Surprises in the t-J model: Implications for cuprates
• Necessity of Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking for the Polar Kerr Effect in Linear Response
• A calculation for polar Kerr effect in high temperature cuprate superconductors
• Spin canting and lattice symmetry in La${}_2$CuO${}_4$
• Time-reversal asymmetry without local moments via directional scalar spin chirality
• Spin-glass state in nickelate superconductors
• Gyrotropic magnetic effect in metallic chiral magnets
• A Chiral Superlattice Route to Spin-Split Topological Antiferromagnetism