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AIST TODAYNo.15 Winter 2005


Optical Hall Effect Fully Clarified


AIST has derived a new basic equations of geometrical optics taking into consideration the effect of polarization to the propagation of light wave packet, in collaboration with University of Tokyo. These equations predict "optical Hall effect" in which the polarization affects the trajectory of light beam and causes a shift in the direction perpendicular to change of refractive index. The effect, not predicted from the conventional geometrical optics, is closely linked with the conservation of total angular momentum of photon. The research group has proposed to amplify the effect extensively by use of photonic crystal. This study is supported by JST.

Figure
Reflection and refraction at an interface. When the incident light is circularly polarized, the mid-axes of reflected and refracted light beams pass through planes different from the trajectory of incident light.

Relational Information
AIST Today Vol. 4, No.11 (2004) 16-18


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