Faraday Effect Apparatus

Laser Based

Holmarc's Faraday Effect Apparatus (Model No: HO-ED-P-04) is designed for the determination of the Verdet constant of a material for a given wavelength of light. With its new and integrated design, this device is easier to setup and operate so that students can understand the principles and theories behind the experiment. Red and green diode lasers (λ = 650nm, 532 nm, respectively) are used for this experiment. This apparatus provides a rod of Schott N-SF57 glass as a sample. A photo detector is placed at the end of the optical rail to measure the intensity as a function of the analyzer angle θ for a full rotation. This system also consists of a power supply for the laser, a magnetic solenoid and a power supply for the solenoid.

Faraday Effect is a magneto optical effect in which the plane of polarized light is rotated as it passes through a medium that is placed in a magnetic field. The amount of rotation is dependent on the amount of sample through which the light passes, strength of the magnetic field and a proportionality constant called Verdet’s Constant.

Optical isolators based on Faraday's effect have important applications in telecommunication. For example to prevent reflected signals on fiber optic cables from producing unwanted signals. Isolators are important when lasers are used because reflected light can cause havoc with the operation of the laser itself.

Experiment: