Theory of optical axion electrodynamics and application to the Kerr effect in topological antiferromagnets
arXiv:2205.06843 · doi:10.1038/s41467-022-35248-8
Abstract
Emergent axion electrodynamics in magneto-electric media is expected to provide novel ways to detect and control material properties with electromagnetic fields. However, despite being studied intensively for over a decade, its theoretical understanding remains mostly confined to the static limit. Here, we introduce a theory of axion electrodynamics at general frequencies. We define a proper optical axion magneto-electric coupling through its relation to optical surface Hall conductivity and provide ways to calculate it in lattice systems. By employing our formulas, we show that axion electrodynamics can lead to a significant Kerr effect in thin-film antiferromagnets at wavelengths that are seemingly too long to resolve the spatial modulation of magnetism. We identify the wavelength scale above which the Kerr effect is suppressed. Our theory is particularly relevant to materials like MnBiTe, a topological antiferromagnet whose magneto-electric response is shown here to be dominated by the axion contribution even at optical frequencies.
24+2 pages, 5+2 figures
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Cited by in corpus (24)
- Axion optical induction of antiferromagnetic order
- Emergent axion response in multilayered metamaterials
- Real-time observation of magnetization and magnon dynamics in a two-dimensional topological antiferromagnet MnBi2Te4
- An antiferromagnetic diode effect in even-layered MnBi2Te4
- Electrically Controlled Anomalous Hall Effect and Orbital Magnetization in Topological Magnet MnBi2Te4
- Intrinsic magnetic topological insulators of the MnBiTe family
- Kerr, Faraday, and Magnetoelectric Effects in MnBiTe Thin Films
- Charge Conservation Beyond Uniformity: Spatially Inhomogeneous Electromagnetic Response in Periodic Solids
- Regularized lattice theory for spatially dispersive nonlinear optical conductivities
- Plasmonic Vortices Host Magnetoelectric Interactions
- New polarization rotation and exact TEM wave solutions in topological insulators
- Distinguishing Surface and Bulk Electromagnetism via Their Dynamics in an Intrinsic Magnetic Topological Insulator
- Capacitive scheme to detect the topological magnetoelectric effect
- Unique properties of the optical activity in noncentrosymmetric superconductors: sum rule, missing area, and relation with the superconducting Edelstein effect
- Magneto-optical Kerr and Faraday effects in bilayer antiferromagnetic insulators
- Synthetic and cosmological axion hybridization: entangled photons, (HBT) and quantum beats
- Position operators in terms of converging finite-dimensional matrices: Exploring their interplay with geometry, transport, and gauge theory
- Standard model of electromagnetism and chirality in crystals
- Probing dynamical axion quasiparticles with two-photon correlations
- Exact modes, hybridization and polarization rotation of electromagnetic fields propagating in topological insulating slab
- Giant and Broadband Circular Dichroism from Particle-Hole Symmetry Breaking in Weyl Semimetals
- Three-dimensional quantum Hall states as a chiral electromagnetic filter
- Orbital Longitudinal Magneto-electric Coupling in Multilayer Graphene
- Orbital optical activity in noncentrosymmetric metals and superconductors