Intrinsic limit of magneto-optical isolators because of magnetic circular dichroism

Righting the handedness' dichotomy: schemes of Sagnac interferometer containing chiral elements for suppression of dependence on circular birefringence and circular dichroism

We present two configurations (one with and another without a half-wave plate) of a Sagnac interferometer (SI) containing chiral optical elements where either the Sagnac loop mirror's (SLM) reflectance is circular birefringence (CB) independent or polarization dependence/circular dichroism (CD) is canceled in both reflection and transmission. These schemes allow use of chiral components as feedback elements/filters in SLM of a laser and in switches/modulators and sensors requiring compensation of chiral media CD, as well as allowing calibration of CD measurements. We also compare/show the differences between SI containing devices with either CB or linear birefringence (LB).

Internal reflections of the Gaussian beams in Faraday isolators

The reflection coefficient of the Faraday isolator-mirror system in the presence of internal reflections of the incident Gaussian beam is theoretically and experimentally explored for three different architectures of a Faraday isolator. In every case, these internal reflections are shown to alter widely the behavior of the system. In particular, we propose and test a design using a quarter-wave plate that can, in some experiments, give better isolation ratios than conventional isolators.