Magneto-optical (MO) effects, such as Faraday and Kerr rotations, are important phenomena in science and technology. They occur in bulk materials as well as in single-layer graphene under an external magnetic field. The transfer matrix method (TMM) is a simple and effective technique for calculating the transmission, reflection, absorption, and the Faraday and Kerr rotation spectra of layered structures, such as multilayers or one-dimensional photonic crystals. Single-layer graphene has a thickness of one carbon atom (~0.335 nm), which is negligible compared to the thickness of other layers in a structure operating in the optical or longer wavelengths. Two approaches can be used to investigate graphene-included layered structures using TMM. One is to model graphene as a layer with a finite thickness and a refractive index. The other is to model it as a sheet with infinitesimal thickness and account for its effects with a surface current density. In this talk, we present our developed 4 by 4 TMM and its results for layered structures that include graphene and other MO materials [1-4].
