Magneto-Optics in Crystals

Abstract

The first magneto-optical effect was discovered by Michael Faraday in 1845 when he observed the rotation in the plane of polarisation of light which was transmitted through glass in a direction parallel to an applied magnetic field’. Experiments then spread to other materials, particularly gases, leading up to the discovery of the Zeeman effect in 1896. By the early years of the twentieth century, following the formulation of the electromagnetic theory by Maxwell and of dispersion theory by Lorentz, Drude, Voigt and others, the magneto-optical effects were remarkably well understood in terms of the classical dynamics of an electron in a magnetic field2, 3.KeywordsEffective MassFree CarrierCyclotron ResonanceLandau LevelFaraday RotationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.