Synchrotron radiation-based far-infrared spectroscopic ellipsometer with full Mueller-matrix capability
We developed far-IR spectroscopic ellipsometer at the U4IR beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source in Brookhaven National Laboratory. This ellipsometer is able to measure both, rotating analyzer and full-Mueller matrix spectra using rotating retarders, and wire-grid linear polarizers. We utilize exceptional brightness of synchrotron radiation in the broad spectral range between about 20 and 4000 cm{sup -1}. Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer is used for multi-wavelength data acquisition. The sample stage has temperature variation between 4.2 and 450 K, wide range of {theta}-2{theta} angular rotation, {chi} tilt angle adjustment, and X-Y-Z translation. A LabVIEW-based software controls the motors, sample temperature, and FT-IR spectrometer and also allows to run fully automated experiments with pre-programmed measurement schedules. Data analysis is based on Berreman's 4 Multiplication-Sign 4 propagation matrix formalism to calculate the Mueller matrix parameters of anisotropic samples with magnetic permeability {mu}{ne} 1. A nonlinear regression of the rotating analyzer ellipsometry and/or Mueller matrix (MM) spectra, which are usually acquired at variable angles of incidence and sample crystallographic orientations, allows extraction of dielectric constant and magnetic permeability tensors for bulk and thin-film samples. Applications of this ellipsometer setup for multiferroic and ferrimagnetic materials with {mu}{ne} 1 are illustrated with experimental results and simulations for TbMnO{sub 3} and Dy{sub 3}Fe{sub 5}O{sub 12} single crystals. We demonstrate how magnetic and electric dipoles, such as magnons and phonons, can be distinguished from a single MM measurement without adducing any modeling arguments. The parameters of magnetoelectric components of electromagnon excitations are determined using MM spectra of TbMnO{sub 3}.