Inverse Faraday effect

In optics, the inverse Faraday effect is the effect opposite to the Faraday effect. A static magnetization $\mathbf {M} (0)$ is induced by an external oscillating electrical field with the frequency $\omega$, which can be achieved with a high intensity laser pulse for example. The induced magnetization is proportional to the vector product of $\mathbf {E}$ and $\mathbf {E} ^{*}$:

$\mathbf {M} (0)\propto [\mathbf {E} (\omega )\times \mathbf {E} ^{*}(\omega )]$

From this equation we see that the circularly polarized light with the frequency $\omega$ should induce a magnetization along the wave vector $\mathbf {k}$. Because ${\vec {E}}$ is in the vector product, left- and right-handed polarization waves should induce magnetization of opposite signs.

The induced magnetization is comparable to the saturated magnetization of the media.

References

• Hertel, R. (2005). "Microscopic theory of the inverse Faraday effect". arXiv:cond-mat/0509060. Bibcode:2005cond.mat..9060H. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Kimel, A. V.; Kirilyuk, A.; Usachev, P. A.; Pisarev, R. V.; Balbashov, A. M.; Rasing, Th. (2005). "Ultrafast non-thermal control of magnetization by instantaneous photomagnetic pulses". Nature. 435 (7042): 655–657. Bibcode:2005Natur.435..655K. doi:10.1038/nature03564. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 15917826. S2CID 4431535.