Abstract
We present a microscopic calculation of the inverse Faraday effect in metals. We derive a static local magnetic moment induced on the application of high-frequency light, using the Eilenberger formulation of quasiclassical theory. We include the effect of disorder and formulate a theory applicable across the entire temperature range, in the absence of external applied fields. For light-induced electric fields of amplitude ∼100kV/cm, the induced fields are large ∼0.1T for metallic Nb. The predictions of our theory agree with recent experimental and theoretical results [O. H.-C. Cheng et al., Nat. Photon. 14, 365 (2020) and J. Hurst et al., Phys. Rev. B 98, 134439 (2018)]. An extension of this approach to superconductors would open a new route of inducing orbital magnetic field and potentially vortices in superconductors.
Published
Physical Review B
Links
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.110.094302
