All-Optical Measurements of the Verdet Constant in Achiral and Chiral Liquids: Toward All-Optical Magnetic Spectroscopies

Magneto-optical effects are attracting wide interest and are found in various applications, including magnetic field sensors, optical modulators, isolators, and switches. In this work, we have revisited the all-optical inverse Faraday effect (IFE) method to measure the Faraday rotation angle and determine the Verdet constant of diamagnetic/paramagnetic liquids and solutions. We show that by using a tunable picosecond laser source the generated IFE enables one to reach magnetic flux densities in liquids in the range of 1–100 T, levels that are comparable to or higher than pulsed magnetic fields obtained using electromagnets. This all-optical method with no pump–probe scheme has the advantage that it requires small volumes (<100 μL) and enables in situ, fast, and efficient static measurements. We further show that it is possible to determine the Verdet constant of solutes in binary dilute solutions and demonstrate that the Verdet constants of chiral molecules exhibit significant enantiomeric differences.