Induced Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking Observed in Microwave Billiards

Using reciprocity, we investigate the breaking of time-reversal (T) symmetry due to a ferrite embedded in a flat microwave billiard. Transmission spectra of isolated single resonances are not sensitive to T-violation whereas those of pairs of nearly degenerate resonances do depend on the direction of time. For their theoretical description a scattering matrix model from nuclear physics is used. The T-violating matrix elements of the effective Hamiltonian for the microwave billiard with the embedded ferrite are determined experimentally as functions of the magnetization of the ferrite.