THE FARADAY EFFECT - MIT

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23Jun99Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPhysics Junior Physics Laboratory: Experiment #8THE FARADAY EFFECTPURPOSEThe purpose of this experiment is to observe the EFFECT of a magnetic field on thetransmission of linearly polarized light through a dispersive medium , to measure the Verdetconstant of dense flint glass at several wavelengths, and to test the validity of the classical theory ofmagnetic circular birefringence, known as the FARADAY QUESTIONS1. Describe the following phenomena:linear birefringenceoptical activitymagnetic circular birefringence2. Derive Becquerel's expression for the Verdet Define the angle of minimum deviation of a prism and derive the relation between it andthe index of The material used in this experiment to display the FARADAY EFFECT is an expensive pieceof heavy flint glass in the form of a long prism.

rotated in traversing a measured thickness of flint glass under the influence of a magnetic field, for several wavelengths and several field strengths. 2. The Verdet constant V = /BD for each of the several wavelengths, from the data obtained in 1.

  Thickness