Verifying Faraday’s Magneto-optical Effect for Some Materials

Abstract

Magneto-optic effect is a phenomenon in which an electromagnetic wave propagates through a medium and gets affected by the presence of a quasistatic magnetic field. Verdet constant describes the strength of Faraday Effect for a particular material. The objective of this work was to measure the Verdet constant for different transparent materials. The Verdet constant is measured by using the Faraday Effect which is a magneto-optical phenomenon; mean it describes the rotation of the plane of polarization of light with in a medium when it is placed in an external magnetic field. So this experiment determines the rotation of the plane of polarization with respect to the wavelength and the magnetic field. The experiment was carried out with different materials like flint glass, potassium iodide, potassium bromide, olive oil, glycerin, normal water and salty water. Reading observed through this experiment depicts a linear relationship between the angle of rotation and the magnetic field. The Verdet constant is determined to be at constant laser wavelength λ = 632.8nm. This effect was demonstrated in olive oil and water and value of Verdet constant be V=16.18 radian/T-m and 24.68 radian/T-m respectively and also show optical activity for glycerin. However, no change was noticed for black glass and salty water.