In a magnetic field, light polarization suffers from the Faraday effect. The theoretical prediction is that the factor of two gradually goes down as the magnetic field increases. Experiments carried out by Professor G. Maret at the Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory have confirmed this prediction and showed good agreement with numerical Monte-Carlo simulations developed in our group. Complex Media Even in its simplest appearance, Radiative Transfer can be a rich phenomenon in complex situations. Time-reversal symmetry can be broken by an external magnetic field .
Rotational symmetry is broken in oriented nematic liquid crystals .
In both cases the diffusion tensor of the light needs no longer to be isotropic as is conventionally true. In a nematic liquid crystal the host medium is uniaxial whereas the thermal director fluctuations are highly anisotropic. The long range nature of the thermal fluctuations is another complex aspect under study by us. Light incident on a dielectric sphere exhibiting the Faraday effect, subjected to a magnetic field perpendicular to it, will be scattered differently in upward direction than it will be scattered downwardly, in much the same way the Lorentz force acts on an electron. The dashed line is a calculation for Rayleigh-Gans scatterer.