Abstract
ONE consequence of classical electromagnetic theory is that the velocity of light in vacuo should be unaffected by superposed magnetic or electric fields; this conclusion is worth checking experimentally whenever a sufficient advance occurs in precision of observation. As regards the constancy of the velocity of light through a vacuum in the presence of a transverse magnetic field, the most precise observations higherto made are probably those of Banwell and Farr1. These investigators showed in 1940 by an interferometric technique with photoelectric recording that in a field of 20,000 oersted the change of velocity, if it existed, was unlikely to be much more than an increase of about 30 cm./sec.; their probable error was about 18.6 cm./sec.
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References
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JONES, R. Velocity of Light in a Magnetic Field. Nature 186, 706 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/186706a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/186706a0
