Magnetic reversal measurement of Faraday rotation (${\theta }_{\mathrm{odd}}(B)=[{\theta }_{\mathrm{obs}}(B)-{\theta }_{\mathrm{obs}}(-B)]/2$)

Consider an original model at fixed vacuum wavelength $600\mathrm{nm}$ and temperature $20^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$. Stipulate a transparent sample with Verdet constant $V=20\mathrm{rad}{\mathrm{T}}^{-1}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$, length $L=0.050\mathrm{m}$, uniform adjustable $B_z$, and a field-independent analyzer-zero offset ${\theta }_0=0.020\mathrm{rad}$. These are chosen values, not measured glass properties. On a continuously tracked small-angle branch,Taking half the difference gives ${\theta }_{\mathrm{odd}}=0.100\mathrm{rad}$; half the sum recovers ${\theta }_0=0.020\mathrm{rad}$. Hence $V={\theta }_{\mathrm{odd}}/(LB)=20\mathrm{rad}{\mathrm{T}}^{-1}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$. A field-reversal difference of $0.200\mathrm{rad}$ is twice the single-field rotation, not that rotation itself. More generally this subtraction removes every contribution that is even under $B\mapsto -B$, provided the sample and apparatus remain otherwise matched.

An ideal polarimeter analyzer at laboratory angle $a$ reads normalized light intensity $I(a,B)/I_0={\cos }^2[a-{\theta }_{\mathrm{obs}}(B)]$. Here $I_0$ is the light intensity immediately before the analyzer, separately calibrated for each condition. A scan locates the maximum at $a={\theta }_{\mathrm{obs}}$ modulo $\pi$. At $a=\pi /4$, expansion about zero gives $I/I_0=1/2+{\theta }_{\mathrm{obs}}+O({\theta }_{\mathrm{obs}}^3)$, with angles in radians. At crossed extinction, the response instead begins as ${\theta }_{\mathrm{obs}}^2$ and loses the sign near zero. The favorable $45^{\circ }$ slope follows directly by differentiating Malus's law; its sign reverses if the angular convention is reversed.