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Updated: Jul 12, 2025

Spectral and Angle-Resolved Magneto-Optical Characterization of Photonic Nanostructures
Published on: November 21, 2019
Magneto-Optical Detection of the Orbital Hall Effect in Chromium
Igor Lyalin1, Sanaz Alikhah2, Marco Berritta2,3
1Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
Abstract:
The orbital Hall effect has been theoretically predicted but its direct observation is a challenge. Here, we report the magneto-optical detection of current-induced orbital accumulation at the surface of a light 3d transition metal, Cr. The orbital polarization is in-plane, transverse to the current direction, and scales linearly with current density, consistent with the orbital Hall effect. Comparing the thickness-dependent magneto-optical measurements with ab initio calculations, we estimate an orbital diffusion length in Cr of 6.6±0.6 nm.
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