Inverse Faraday effect

The inverse Faraday effect is the effect opposite to the Faraday effect. A static magnetization $\vec{M}(0)$ is induced by an external oscillating electrical field with the frequency $\omega$ , which can be achieved with a high intensity laser pulse for example. The induced magnetization is proportional to the vector product of $\vec{E}$ and $\vec{E}^*$ :

$\vec{M}(0)\propto[\vec{E}(\omega)\times\vec{E}^*(\omega)]$

From this equation we see that the circularly polarized light with the frequency $\omega$ should induce a magnetization along the wave vector $\vec{k}$ . Because $\vec{E}$ is in the vector product, left- and right-handed polarization waves should induce magnetization of opposite signs.

The induced magnetization is comparable to the saturated magnetization of the media.

References

R. Hertel, Microscopic theory of the inverse Faraday effect, http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0509060 (2005)
A. V. Kimel, A. Kirilyuk, P. A. Usachev, R. V. Pisarev, A. M. Balbashov and Th. Rasing, Ultrafast non-thermal control of magnetization by instantaneous photomagnetic pulses, Nature 435, 655-657 (2005)