Circumventing linear birefringence in ferromagnetic crystals

Abstract
Utilization of the Faraday effect in room-temperature ferromagnetic crystals transparent in the visible, such as FeBO3 or FeF3, is complicated by the dominant linear birefringence present in such crystals. We devise a method to overcome this obstacle by stacking of properly oriented platelets. To take into account the reflections within such a stack, we develop a new matrix method based on the well-known Jones calculus and a paper by Teitler and Henvis [J. Opt. Soc. Am. 60, 830 (1970)].