In the polar configuration case,
. Following the same reasoning as in the previous part
of the tutorial, we obtain the eigenvectors corresponding to left and right
circularly polarized light and eigenvalues for the refractive index:
(Eq.13.1)
13.2 Transverse geometry
In the transverse configuration,
. Equation 11.5 becomes:
(Eq.13.2)
This leads to:
(Eq.13.3)
With the obvious solutions:
(Eq.13.4)
Note that for the first order of
,
the two eigenvalues are the same and therefore there is no difference in
refractive index for left and right circularly polarized light to the first
order of .
However, a “Kerr rotation-like” effect can still be observed in the transverse
configuration if the polarization of the incoming light is in an intermediate
position between S and P. In that case, if there is a different amplitude and/or
phase change for the S and P components, the net result will be a rotation
and/or ellipticity variation.
In the following we shall therefore establish the expressions
of the MOKE angles for S and P polarized light.
