GHz non-reciprocal optical conductivity in hematite (α-Fe2O3)
Abstract
We study the non-reciprocal properties of the iron oxide α-Fe2O3 (hematite) in the canted easy-plane antiferromagnetic phase, specifically in the GHz to THz frequency range. First, using the the microscopic spin Hamiltonian, we obtain the correct classical ground state where the canting is induced by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions (DMI). The magnon spectrum is simulated using linear spin wave theory. We then compute the polarizability and the sub-gap optical conductivities using linear response. We find that the conductivity tensor contains frequency peaks at the zero momentum magnon gaps of order 0.1meV which can be tuned by the DMI and on-site anisotropic spin interactions. Furthermore, we show that the canting-induced net magnetic moment m represents a measure for the effective time-reversal-symmetry breaking and non-reciprocity of the system: a finite m results in a non-zero Hall conductivity. Finally, we discuss the prospective application of hematite in non-reciprocal circulator design, by computing the non-reciprocal circulator transmission amplitude using the conductivities as input.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{rao2026nonreciprocal,
title = {{GHz non-reciprocal optical conductivity in hematite ($α$-$\textFe_2\textO_3$)}},
author = {Peng Rao and Johannes Gröbmeyer and P. Peter Stavropoulos and Alexander Mook and Matthias Althammer and Hans Huebl and Alexander Holleitner and Johannes Knolle},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2607.22176},
eprint = {2607.22176},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.22176},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - GHz non-reciprocal optical conductivity in hematite (α-Fe_2O_3)
AU - Peng Rao
AU - Johannes Gröbmeyer
AU - P. Peter Stavropoulos
AU - Alexander Mook
AU - Matthias Althammer
AU - Hans Huebl
AU - Alexander Holleitner
AU - Johannes Knolle
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2607.22176
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.22176
AB - We study the non-reciprocal properties of the iron oxide α-Fe_2O_3 (hematite) in the canted easy-plane antiferromagnetic phase, specifically in the GHz to THz frequency range. First, using the the microscopic spin Hamiltonian, we obtain the correct classical ground state where the canting is induced by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions (DMI). The magnon spectrum is simulated using linear spin wave theory. We then compute the polarizability and the sub-gap optical conductivities using linear response. We find that the conductivity tensor contains frequency peaks at the zero momentum magnon gaps of order 0.1meV which can be tuned by the DMI and on-site anisotropic spin interactions. Furthermore, we show that the canting-induced net magnetic moment m represents a measure for the effective time-reversal-symmetry breaking and non-reciprocity of the system: a finite m results in a non-zero Hall conductivity. Finally, we discuss the prospective application of hematite in non-reciprocal circulator design, by computing the non-reciprocal circulator transmission amplitude using the conductivities as input.
ER -