Abstract
PHOTONS and electrons, despite their very different nature, show many similarities in their behaviour. Several photonic counterparts of established electronic phenomena—such as photonic energy bands1, weak localization2–4, and the quantization of5 (and fluctuations in6–8) optical transmission—have now been observed. These similarities originate in the wave-like character of both photons and electrons. But unlike photons, electrons are also charged, and thus experience the Lorentz force in a magnetic field. This force leads to the well known Hall effect, in which the application of a magnetic field to an electron-transporting medium generates a new current (or voltage) perpendicular to the direction of both the original current and the applied magnetic field. Despite the absence of photonic charge, one of us has predicted9 that the propagation of light through a disordered, scattering medium should be similarly affected by a magnetic field, although the origin of the effect is very different. Here we report the experimental confirmation of this phenomenon.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Yablonovitch, E. in Analogies in Optics and Micro Electronics Ch. 8 (eds Van Haeringen, W. & Lenstra, D.) 117–134 (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1990).
Van Albada, M. P. & Lagendijk, A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 2692–2695 (1985).
Wolf, P. E. & Maret, G. Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 2696–2699 (1985).
Erbacher, F., Lenke, R. & Maret, G. Europhys. Lett. 21, 551–556 (1993).
Montie, E. A., Cosman, E. C., ‘t Hooft, G. W., Van der Mark, M. B. & Beenakker C. W. J. Nature 350, 594–595 (1991).
Garcia, G. & Genack, A. Z. Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 1678–1681 (1989).
Van Albada, M. P., De Boer, J. F. & Lagendijk, A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 2787–2790 (1990).
Berkovits, R. & Feng, S. Phys. Rep. 238, 135–172 (1994).
Van Tiggelen, B. A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 422–424 (1995).
Landau, L. D., Lifshitz, E. M. & Pitaevskii, L. P. Electrodynamics of Continuous Media Sect. 97 (Pergamon, Oxford, 1984).
Darsht, M. Ya., Zhirgalova, I. V., Zel'dovich, B. Ya. & Kundikova, N. D. JETP Lett. 59, 763–765 (1994).
Kagan, Yu. & Maksimov, L. JETP 14, 604–610 (1962).
Korving, J., Hulsman, H., Knaap, H. F. P. & Beenakker, J. J. M. Phys. Lett. 21, 5–6 (1966).
Hermans, L. J. F., Fortuin, P. H., Knaap, H. F. P. & Beenakker, J. J. M. Phys. Lett. 25A, 81–82 (1967).
Mazur, E., Hijnen, H. J. M., Hermans, L. J. F. & Beenakker, J. J. M. Physica A123, 412–427 (1984).
Crank, J. The Mathematics of Diffusion (Clarendon, Oxford, 1990).
Leycuras, C., LeGall, H., Guillot, M. & Marchand, A. J. appl. Phys. 55, 2161–2163 (1984).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rikken, G., van Tiggelen, B. Observation of magnetically induced transverse diffusion of light. Nature 381, 54–55 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/381054a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/381054a0
This article is cited by
-
Probing nanoscale fluctuation of ferromagnetic meta-atoms with a stochastic photonic spin Hall effect
Nature Nanotechnology (2020)
-
Modeling and experimental studies of optical power cable current sensing based on the optical transmission properties of magnetic fluids
Optoelectronics Letters (2020)
-
A Lévy flight for light
Nature (2008)
-
Light bent by magnets
Nature (1996)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
