Faraday Effect Experiment
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OBJECTIVES:
Observe the effect of a magnetic field on plane of polarization of polarized light as it passes through a dispersive medium.
Measure the Verdet’s constant of a given dispersive material.
PRINCIPLE
When a linearly polarized light passes through an optical medium in a region of strong magnetic field, the plane of polarization of linearly polarized light rotates by an angle. The angle of rotation of plane polarized light is proportional to the length of optical medium and component of magnetic field in the direction of light. The factor of proportionality is a medium specific and is called Verdet’s constant. And this effect is known as the Faraday Rotation or Faraday Effect. Discovered by Michael Faraday in 1845, the Faraday effect was the first experimental evidence that light and electromagnetism are related. In the experimental setup the optical medium is SF6 glass cube.
