Magnon polaritons-driven photonics. In this work, scientists from China focus on the excitation of surface magnon polaritons and their effect on the Goos–Hänchen and Imbert–Fedorov shifts of reflected beams by using the attenuated total reflection technique. Surface magnon polaritons are a type of quasiparticle arising from the coupling of incident electromagnetic radiation and the magnetic dipole polarization at the surface of a solid. Magnons are analogous to other forms of polaritons, such as plasmons and phonons, and represent an oscillation of the magnetic component of the electromagnetic field coupled to electrons in the solid rather than of its electric component. By using the transfer-matrix method the authors derived analytically the expressions for the Goos–Hänchen and the Imbert–Fedorov shifts. The numerical calculations were based on the antiferromagnetic crystal FeF₂. The excitation of surface magnon polaritons has fascinating effects on these shifts. For instance, they can greatly enhance the Imbert–Fedorov shift of the reflected beam, and such a shift can be used to detect surface polaritons. This work theoretically proves that these excitations represent the perfect tool to drive and control light-matter interactions at terahertz frequencies, which are fundamental in view of information processing applications where magnetic and optical functionalities are combined.

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