Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-optics-and-electrodynamics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/section-b/4/e/1/solution
Past exam of the optics and electrodynamics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 Section B 4 e 1 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Keep the magnetic field fixed in the laboratory and exchange source and observer. The incident unpolarized light now meets first. In fixed transverse laboratory axes the backward glass map is still , not : this is optical nonreciprocity of the Faraday effect. The order of the two polarizers is reversed, soThe reverse light intensity is thereforeFor the optimal forward setting , it vanishes: the input selected by rotates to and is blocked by . At a general field, . The result assumes equal incident light intensities in the two experiments. Treating the glass as a reciprocal natural optical rotator would predict cancellation of its laboratory rotation on reversal and would give the wrong answer here.
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