magnetooptics

Magnetooptics

That branch of physics which deals with the influence of a magnetic field on optical phenomena. Considering the fact that light is electromagnetic radiation, an interaction between light and a magnetic field would seem quite plausible. It is, however, not the direct interaction of the magnetic field and light that produces the known magnetooptic effects, but the influence of the magnetic field upon matter which is in the process of emitting or absorbing light.

McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Physics. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

magnetooptics

[mag¦nēd·ō¦äp·tiks]

(optics)

The study of the effect of a magnetic field on light passing through a substance in the field.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.