Patent ID: 10025122

Abstract:
An optical device including a Faraday rotator, wherein the Faraday rotator includes a Faraday element 31 made of a magnetooptical material 34, two permanent magnets 35, and an electromagnet 20a, with a direction of travel of light as a front-rear direction, the Faraday element includes light incident/emission surfaces in front and rear, and surfaces parallel to each other in left and right, the plate-shaped permanent magnets are attached to each of left and right side surfaces of the Faraday element such that different magnetic poles are opposed to each other, and the permanent magnets are configured to apply a permanent magnetic field to the Faraday element in one direction of a left direction and a right direction, a shaft part 10 that holds the Faraday element, attached with the permanent magnets, over an entire length in the front-rear direction is included, the electromagnet is configured including a coil made by winding a conductor 21 around a periphery of the shaft part with the front-rear direction as an axis, and the electromagnet is configured to apply to the Faraday element a variable magnetic field in the front-rear direction.