Excitation of magnetic dipole transitions at optical frequencies

We use the magnetic field distribution of an azimuthally polarized focused laser beam to excite a magnetic dipole transition in Eu^{3+} ions embedded in a Y2O3 nanoparticle. The absence of the electric field at the focus of an azimuthally polarized beam allows us to unambiguously demonstrate that th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters Vol. 114; no. 16; p. 163903
Main Authors: Kasperczyk, Mark, Person, Steven, Ananias, Duarte, Carlos, Luis D, Novotny, Lukas
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 24-04-2015
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Summary:We use the magnetic field distribution of an azimuthally polarized focused laser beam to excite a magnetic dipole transition in Eu^{3+} ions embedded in a Y2O3 nanoparticle. The absence of the electric field at the focus of an azimuthally polarized beam allows us to unambiguously demonstrate that the nanoparticle is excited by the magnetic dipole transition near 527.5 nm. When the laser wavelength is resonant with the magnetic dipole transition, the nanoparticle maps the local magnetic field distribution, whereas when the laser wavelength is resonant with an electric dipole transition, the nanoparticle is sensitive to the local electric field. Hence, by tuning the excitation wavelength, we can selectively excite magnetic or electric dipole transitions through optical fields.
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ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.163903