{"id":307142,"date":"2025-11-26T01:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T01:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/307142\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T01:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T01:57:10","slug":"scientists-revisiting-the-faraday-effect-have-uncovered-a-surprising-magnetic-interaction-between-light-and-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/307142\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Revisiting the ‘Faraday Effect’ Have Uncovered a Surprising Magnetic Interaction Between Light and Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Light\u2019s magnetic<\/a> field influences matter, according to new findings by Israeli researchers, challenging long-held assumptions that light only illuminates matter<\/a>\u00a0and prompting a rethink of how the Faraday Effect works.<\/p>\n

Some of today\u2019s most cutting-edge\u00a0technologies<\/a>\u2014currently mostly laboratory concepts such as spintronics<\/a> and quantum<\/a> devices\u2014could benefit from this revised understanding, as the new work reexamines one of physics\u2019 most fundamental interactions.<\/p>\n

The Faraday Effect<\/p>\n

First discovered by Michael Faraday in 1845, the Faraday Effect describes what has long been viewed as an interaction solely between light\u2019s electric field and matter. Observations of the effect reveal that light\u2019s polarization rotates as it passes through a material exposed to a steady magnetic field. Traditionally, researchers believed only the electric field of light contributed to this rotation. Now, new work suggests that light\u2019s magnetic field is also a significant player.<\/p>\n

A new study provides theoretical evidence that the oscillating magnetic field of light directly contributes to the Faraday Effect. Dr. Amir Capua and Benjamin Assouline of the Institute of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem led the research, published in Nature Scientific Reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn simple terms, it\u2019s an interaction between light and magnetism,\u201d explained Dr Capua in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThe static magnetic field \u2018twists\u2019 the light, and the light, in turn, reveals the magnetic properties of the material. What we\u2019ve found is that the magnetic part of light has a first-order effect, it\u2019s surprisingly active in this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of being irrelevant\u2014as scientists long assumed\u2014the new findings indicate that light\u2019s magnetic field has a direct and measurable impact on the spin behavior produced during the Faraday Effect.<\/p>\n

Pulling on Threads<\/p>\n

Previous work from the team first hinted that light\u2019s magnetic field may have been underestimated.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout a year ago, we realized, somewhat coincidentally, that the optical magnetic field can couple to spins,\u201d Dr Capua told The Debrief in an email. \u201cThis insight emerged while we were developing a theoretical model that combines concepts from quantum optics with principles from spintronics and magnetism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough this work, we uncovered a fundamental principle: if a magnetic field is simply rotated in space, it exerts a longitudinal torque on the magnetization,\u201d he continued. \u201cIn other words, a circularly polarized magnetic field can interact with spins. This principle holds independent of the speed at which the field rotates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Modeling Magnetic Light<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s research centered on the Landau\u2013Lifshitz\u2013Gilbert equation\u2014introduced in 1955 and based on the earlier 1935 Landau\u2013Lifshitz equation\u2014which describes the dynamics of magnetism in solids and the motion of spins in magnetic systems. Using this framework, the researchers showed that light\u2019s magnetic field can generate magnetic torque inside a material, similar to the effect of a static magnetic field.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words,\u201d Dr Capua explained, \u201clight doesn\u2019t just illuminate matter, it magnetically influences it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"magical\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

To test their model, the researchers focused on Terbium Gallium Garnet, one of the most commonly used materials for measuring the Faraday Effect. By applying their Landau\u2013Lifshitz\u2013Gilbert\u2013based model, they found that light\u2019s magnetic field accounts for 17% of the rotation seen at visible wavelengths, and as much as 70% in the infrared.<\/p>\n

The researchers already have additional experiments planned to test their predictions in the laboratory, although for now, the results reveal a long-overlooked facet of light\u2019s unique interactions with matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur results show that light \u2018talks\u2019 to matter not only through its electric field, but also through its magnetic field,\u201d concluded co-author Benjamin Assouline, \u201ca component that has been largely overlooked until now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The paper, \u201cFaraday Effects Emerging from the Optical Magnetic Field<\/a>,\u201d appeared in Nature Science Reports on November 19, 2025.<\/p>\n

Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at\u00a0ryan@thedebrief.org<\/a>, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Light\u2019s magnetic field influences matter, according to new findings by Israeli researchers, challenging long-held assumptions that light only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[49,48,133526,18003,10323,314,66,2281],"class_list":{"0":"post-307142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-faraday-effect","11":"tag-light","12":"tag-magnetic-field","13":"tag-physics","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-spintronics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}