Scientists have recently updated a long-standing assumption regarding the interaction between light and matter, specifically regarding the Faraday effect (FE), first described by Michael Faraday in 1845. This effect illustrates how light rays are influenced by a magnetic field, affecting their polarization direction. Traditionally, it was believed that this interaction involved only the electric component of electromagnetic waves.
Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found that light’s magnetic component also plays a significant role. They studied terbium-gallium-garnet, a magnetizable crystal, and discovered that the optical magnetic field contributes approximately 17 percent of the FE at visible wavelengths and 70 percent at infrared wavelengths—challenging previous assumptions that this effect was negligible.
Physicist Amir Capua explained that light not only illuminates but magnetically influences matter. The study showed that the light’s magnetic field interacts with the spin of electrons in matter, providing a new understanding of how polarization affects magnetism. This interaction enables the magnetic field of light to influence the direction of electron spins.
The implications of this discovery could lead to improved methods for controlling light and matter. Potential applications may advance sensing, memory storage, and computing technology, including quantum computing and spintronics, which uses electron spin rather than charge for information manipulation.
This research underscores the continual potential for new discoveries in established scientific models, emphasizing that our understanding of light and electromagnetic phenomena can evolve. The study is detailed in Scientific Reports.
