Observation of magneto-electric rectification at non-relativistic intensities

Nat Commun. 2020 Oct 20;11(1):5296. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19125-w.

Abstract

The subject of electromagnetism has often been called electrodynamics to emphasize the dominance of the electric field in dynamic light-matter interactions that take place under non-relativistic conditions. Here we show experimentally that the often neglected optical magnetic field can nevertheless play an important role in a class of optical nonlinearities driven by both the electric and magnetic components of light at modest (non-relativistic) intensities. We specifically report the observation of magneto-electric rectification, a previously unexplored nonlinearity at the molecular level which has important potential for energy conversion, ultrafast switching, nano-photonics, and nonlinear optics. Our experiments were carried out in nanocrystalline pentacene thin films possessing spatial inversion symmetry that prohibited second-order, all-electric nonlinearities but allowed magneto-electric rectification.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.