Steering light with magnetic textures

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how magnetic domain patterns in Yttrium-Iron Garnet films can be used as reconfigurable optical gratings to actively steer visible light through magneto-optical effects.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of controlling light using magnetic textures as reconfigurable optical gratings, combining experimental and theoretical analysis.

Findings

Magnetic stripe domains act as field-controlled optical gratings.

The approach allows active spatiotemporal control of light patterns.

Experimental verification confirms the efficiency of the magneto-optical grating.

Abstract

We study the steering of visible light using a combination of magneto-optical effects and the reconfigurability of magnetic domains in Yttrium-Iron Garnet films. The spontaneously formed stripe domains are used as a field-controlled optical grating, allowing for active spatiotemporal control of light. We discuss the basic ideas behind the approach and provide a quantitative description of the field dependence of the obtained light patterns. Finally, we calculate and experimentally verify the efficiency of our magneto-optical grating.