Necessity of Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking for the Polar Kerr Effect in Linear Response

We show that, measured in a backscattering geometry, the polar Kerr effect is absent if the nonlocal electromagnetic response function respects Onsager symmetry, characteristic of thermodynamic states that preserve time-reversal symmetry. A key element is an expression for the reflectivity tensor in terms of the retarded Green’s function.