Phys. Rev. B 60, 3040 - 3043 (1999)

Direct mechanism of spin orientation by circularly polarized light

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Anatoly Yu. Smirnov
Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Winnipeg Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2

Received 28 July 1998

Dissipative spin dynamics in a rotating magnetic field created by a circularly polarized light is considered. With the generalized Bloch equations we show that the steady-state spin polarization along the laser beam axis arises as a result of the direct transfer of the angular momentum from photons to the spin-1/2 in a medium without optical absorption. An application of this mechanism for explaining the inverse Faraday effect is discussed.

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v60/p3040
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.60.3040
PACS: 76.20.+q, 78.20.Ls, 78.66.-w

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Phys. Rev. B 60, 3040 - 3043 (1999)

Direct mechanism of spin orientation by circularly polarized light

PRL Celebrates 50 Years