Faraday Rotation

Theory, Application, and Issues

With a neat Tangent
Zachary Marshall

Faraday Rotation

First noticed in 1845 by Michael Faraday

Linearly polarized light near resonance
travels through a material (esp. alkali
metal gas) in a B-Field
The B-Field must have a component in
the direction of propagation.
Polarization rotates
He wrote in his notebook, "I have at last
succeeded in illuminating a magnetic
curve or line of force and in magnetising
a ray of light"

Some Hand Waving

Applied magnetic field creates Zeeman

splitting of energy levels

LHC and RHC polarized light see different
scattering cross-sections, so different refractive
indices, and so have different phase velocities
Their different propagation means the linear
polarization of light rotates

Again, with Math

Zeeman shift changes resonance by g F0Bz
V B L
n- - n+) L /

= CRb L [alkali] B / 2
n = pi c2 ni

Faraday Rotator / Isolator

Optical element rotating the polarization of

light
Polarizer - Faraday Rotator Polarizer
Prevents contamination and backsplash of
electromagnetic waves
Common materials for use in 700-1100 nm
range: terbium doped borosillicate glass and
terbium gallium garnet crystal (TGG).
They can be magnetized before hand.

For Measuring Number Density

Cell

filled with a gas, at least some of which is

an alkali metal (usually below its boiling point)
Tunable laser (e.g. Ti:Saph) through the center
of a cell

What could possibly go wrong?

Optical

pumping during measurement

Laser heats the cell interior
Thermal

fluctuations in a cell

Remember:

What ever can go wrong, will

go wrong. But there are ways around
each problem.

How else could we find

[Rb]?
Here comes the thermo

Killian Equations
First developed in the 1920s, credit is usually

given to Killian (1926).

d(ln P)/dT = H/(R T2) (Clausius-Clapeyron)
In a small range, H is temp. invar.
Resulting equation is of the form
log P = A + B/T
Additional terms like C log T, D / T2 are
common

So What are A and B for Rb?

And what did they get?

Faraday to the Rescue?

Claimed
But

to be the only safe method.

why do we care so much?

Pumping Nobel Gasses

Rubidium

is polarized with circularly polarized

laser
Collisions transfer spin to Xe / He
Nitrogen prevents immediate spin loss
Depolarization comes from collisions
Rb depolarization term
depends on Rb number
density

He-3 Lung Image

And Some Secret Projects

And in Space
Faraday

rotation occurs in the interstellar

medium due to free electrons
= 2 C * integral of B*ne ds
If we know ne, we can determine B along
the path to us.
Radio

waves going through the

ionosphere rotate as well.