Observation of the Inverse Cotton-Mouton Effect

Andrei Ben-Amar Baranga (1) , Rémy Battesti (1) , Mathilde Fouché (1) , Carlo Rizzo (1) , Rikken G.L.J.A. (1)

1 LNCMI-T - Laboratoire national des champs magnétiques intenses - Toulouse

We report the observation of the Inverse Cotton-Mouton Effect (ICME) i.e. a magnetization induced in a medium by non resonant linearly polarized light propagating in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. We present a detailed study of the ICME in a TGG crystal showing the dependence of the measured effect on the light intensity, the optical polarization, and on the external magnetic field. We derive a relation between the Cotton-Mouton and Inverse Cotton-Mouton effects that is roughly in agreement with existing experimental data. Our results open the way to applications of the ICME in optical devices.

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]; Supraconductivité [cond-mat.supr-con]

Andrei Ben-Amar Baranga, Rémy Battesti, Mathilde Fouché, Carlo Rizzo, Rikken G.L.J.A.. Observation of the Inverse Cotton-Mouton Effect. EPL - Europhysics Letters, 2011, 94 (4), pp.44005. ⟨10.1209/0295-5075/94/44005⟩. ⟨hal-00518059v2⟩