Chirality

Magneto-optical deflection of light

Faraday effect observed via polarization dependent deflection of light in a longitudinal magnetic field.

In the Faraday effect a magnetic field renders any medium optically active, such that the plane of polarization of a linearly polarized light beam that propagates along the direction of the field is rotated. Just like natural optical activity, magnetic optical activity is described by a difference in the refractive indices for left- and right-circularly polarized light. Encouraged by our recent observation of circular differential light splitting in chiral liquids [1], we revisited the magneto-optical effect in reflection and refraction. The Figure shows that Faraday rotation can indeed be observed via double refraction and reflection. These findings complement measurements Verdet constants in transmission (Faraday rotation) and reflection (magneto-optical Kerr effect).

[1] A. Ghosh and P. Fischer, Phys. Rev. Lett., 97 (2006) 173002.