Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Rotation of the plane of polarization of reflected light (Kerr effect) is a direct manifestation of broken time reversal symmetry and is generally associated with the appearance of a ferromagnetic moment. Here I identify magnetic structures that may arise within the unit cell of cuprate superconductors that generate polarization rotation despite the absence of a net moment. For these magnetic symmetries the Kerr effect is mediated by magnetoelectric coupling, which can arise when antiferromagnetic order breaks inversion symmetry. The structures identifed are candidates for a time-reversal breaking phase in the pseudogap regime of the cuprates.