Reflective optical activity

Abstract

Recent positive experimental observations of reflective optical activity along gyrotropic and four-fold inversion rotation directions put into question the traditional form of the reciprocal relations for the dielectric tensor in the vicinity of the border. We show, however, that the experimental results may be consistently treated using the integral form of the Maxwell equations. A microscopic picture of the non-reversality of optical interaction with zinc blende materials which breaks the kinetic coefficient symmetry is also presented.