Optical Hall conductivity in ordinary and graphene QHE systems

Abstract

We have revealed from a numerical study that the optical Hall conductivity $\sigma_{xy}(\omega)$ has a characteristic feature even in the ac ($\sim$ THz) regime in that the Hall plateaus are retained both in the ordinary two-dimensional electron gas and in graphene in the quantum Hall (QHE) regime, although the plateau height is no longer quantized in ac. In graphene $\sigma_{xy}(\omega)$ reflects the unusual Landau level structure. The effect remains unexpectedly robust against a significant strength of disorder, which we attribute to an effect of localization. We predict the ac quantum Hall measurements are feasible through the Faraday rotation characterized by the fine-structure constant $\alpha$.