Vl. Gurevich et R. Laiho, PHOTOMAGNETISM OF METALS - MICROSCOPIC THEORY OF THE PHOTOINDUCED SURFACE CURRENT, Physical review. B, Condensed matter, 48(11), 1993, pp. 8307-8316
Photoinduced magnetic flux has been observed recently in normal metals
exposed to unpolarized visible light. This effect is partly due to th
e fact that the light reflected from a metal surface transfers to the
conduction electrons some of its quasimomentum. This creates a dc surf
ace current which, for an appropriate geometry, brings about the photo
magnetic effect. There is another contribution to the current that is
due to anisotropy of the probabilities of electron transitions induced
by the light, in combination with diffuse reflection of the electrons
at the surface. Both contributions are compared. The relation between
them may be particularly sensitive to the polarization of the light.