learning the physics behind it in greater depth. This is my senior project for my
"WISE" English class. Nice, eh? I get to do Physics for an English class!
It will cost a bare minimum of $150-200. Take a look at the materials section
(Step 3).
It requires a rather advanced understanding of some topics in physics. The
basics are up to you to learn (see bottom of this page to see what they are), but I
do my best to explain Faraday Rotation with classical physics in the last steps of
this instructable.
For more background Information:
Watch 20:20 to 21:15 of this video: http://fora.tv/2008/05/01/George_JohnsonThe_Ten_Most_Beautiful_Experiments
This book has a detailed description of the original experiment: The Ten Most
Beautiful Experiments (by George Johnson ) (read chapter 6, "Something
Deeply Hidden") You can get some of it here: http://books.google.com/books?
id=3w83rbjVWZgC&pg=PA75&dq=the+10+most+beautiful+experiments+by+geor
ge+johnson+faraday&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
This website has a ton of useful physics that will really help you understand how
Faraday rotation works: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html
Ask the Van is a great reliable resource for answering your physics questions.
It is a Q+A that is run by people who really know what they are talking
about:http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/newquestion.php This is where I first went
to make sure that this project would actually be possible to do. You can see my
original questions here: http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=17167
Being familiar with the following terms would be quite useful if you want to
understand Faraday rotation: electromagnetic waves, linear polarization, circular
polarization, index of refraction, birefringence, lasers, wavelength, dispersion,
Verdet constant, and magnetism.
Lasers:
I highly suggest you read this before using any laser
ever:http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersaf.htm
Never look into the beam of any laser (this one should be a no-brainer)
Never point any laser at any person, vehicle, animal, etc. (also a no-brainer)
Use extreme precaution when using high powered lasers (anything above
5mW)
Use extreme precaution when using IR (infrared) or UV (ultraviolet) lasers
(these wavelengths are not visible to the human eye, so the usual blink reflex
(MOTs). They put out only ~3kV at SEVERAL AMPS. (THIS WILL KILL YOU!)
Keep one hand in a pants pocket at all times when using any high voltage; this
will help limit the amount of current that can go through your heart if you are
accidentally shocked.
Wear proper eye protection
Never play with the power mains. (DARWIN AWARD MATERIAL )
Machine Shop and Hand Tools:
Always wear proper eye protection.
It should go without saying, but use common sense.
When using power tools (such as drill-press, lathe, mill, grinder, band-saw,
table-saw, etc), do NOT wear gloves. The machine can pull in a loose glove AND
your hand/arm. If you catch just your flesh in a machine, it will tear cleanly
instead of sucking you into the machine. While you operate machines, wear
close-fitting clothing, tie back long hair, and remove your jewelry.
Use proper gloves when you handle sharp metal items and when using hand
tools such as a razor-knife.
Always use set safety guards on machines to the proper height.
Never work alone. Never work when you are tired or very stressed.
Work in a very well ventilated room or outside if you are using toxic or volatile
paints, solvents, glues, etc.
Use a paper-filter-type mask for sawdust and other particulates that float
around in the air.
Step 3: Materials
1 glass rod :
This crucial element of the device must be Terbium doped borosilicate glass or
Terbium Gallium Garnet (TGG) -- or some similar paramagnetic material with a
very high Verdet constant -- in order to produce a measurable effect. The
cheapest source for this is http://www.teachspin.com/instruments/US-CA
%20prices.shtml#faraday ($100).
1 large, powerful horseshoe magnet:
This can be easily made with the steel from a large electrical transformer and a
bunch of really strong neodymium magnets, preferably grade N52. If you use the
E-shaped piece of steel from a transformer, you need to cut the middle prong out
with a hacksaw in order to make the steel "C" that is the back part of the
horseshoe magnet. I got my magnets from a friend who works for a magnet
company that tosses a lot of magnets due to small chips or changes in customer
specifications. I have also purchased incredibly strong magnets
fromhttp://www.kjmagnetics.com/
OR:
1 powerful solenoid, 10cm long, with a high current power supply:
As you can see in my photos, I hand-wound a large solenoid on a cardboard tube
that I made from a manila folder. The magnet wire came out of the transformer
that I cut apart to get the steel for the horseshoe magnet. The solenoid can run
on 14.5V DC @ 3A for about 2 minutes before I can start to smell something
melting. It certainly would be a more elegant way to make a Faraday rotator -because you would be linking electricity and magnetism in addition to linking
magnetism and light.
OR:
1 long, axially magnetized ring magnet:
I have not tried this, but I think that it would be a great way to make a really
strong field. However, you have no way to adjust the field strength. You can
purchase a stack of 16 of these for $63.25. Based on the helpful field
visualizations on the product page (http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?
prod=RC44-N52 ), this would have an average magnetic field parallel to the
propagation of the light of an incredible .5 Tesla or so.
2 linear polarizers:
Polaroid sheet works great. I used 4 polarizers because they aren't extremely
efficient at polarizing blue light. They are pretty cheap.
(http://www.amazon.com/Square-Linear-Polarized-FilterWindow/dp/B004803FAK )
1 protractor:
One 2' x 4' piece of pegboard (the sheet with all the 1" evenly spaced 1/4" holes
in it) -- this is the standard size.
Lots of 1" thick pine wood (for mounting polarizers, glass rod, photo-sensor,
magnet) Also, if you get a B&W Tek BWB-10-OEM 473 nm
5 mW laser, then you can use this wood (or 3/4"-thick wood) to make a box for
the power supply -- you may also want plexiglass or
preferably polycarbonate for the top, woodscrews to hold it together, and hot-glue
to put on the brittle plexiglass. If you use wood
screws to put together a box, definately drill pilot holes the size of the screw
shank to avoid splitting the wood.
About 25 regular steel 1/4"-20 nuts.
About 60 regular steel 1/4" ID washers.
About 25 regular 1/4"-20 bolts, 1.5" long.
2-4 regular 1/4"-20 bolts, ~3" long.
2 1/4"-20 wing-nuts.
2 1/4"-20 wing-bolts or bolts that you can tighten by hand, 1.5" long.
Small diameter aluminum pipe for spacers for the 473nm lab laser.
About 8 small square 2 x 4s and about 16 nails (supports for the main board).
Step 4: Tools
Power Tools:
Hand drill for making holes in the wooden mounts and the pegboard. Only a
1/4"-clearance bit is needed.
Band-saw for cutting wood, polycarbonate, pegboard, etc.
Hand Tools:
Hammer for nailing the wood support blocks onto the pegboard and the steel
part of the horseshoe magnet onto the wood mount.
Hacksaw for cutting wood, pegboard, polycarbonate, nails that are too long, etc.
Two 7/16" wrenches.
Pipe cutter for making aluminum tube spacers to mount the blue lab laser.
Wire strippers for stripping the insulated leads on the sensor.
Measuring Tools:
Nonmagnetic metric tape or ruler for measuring the distance between the
horseshoe magnet and the laser beam in the glass rod.
Standard/English tape measure.
Sharpie for marking things.
Multimeter for measuring the voltage put out by the regulator-sensor diode. I
got mine from circuit specialists for $8 (no photo).
Gauss meter (Hall-effect probe) -- you should borrow this if possible to measure
the strength of the magnetic field (no photo).
1) Decide on a height for the laser beam -- and write it down somewhere.
Then, draw out all the mounts on the wood with a pencil and a ruler/tapemeasure. Make sure that each component will end up being at exactly the
correct height relative to the laser beam. The two holes for bolting on each
wooden mount must be an integer number of inches apart so that it will
easily fit on the pegboard hole-grid. You need to make:
A mount for the first linear polarizer.
A mount for the second linear polarizer and a protractor, made in such a way
that the polarizer can move on a hinge that is at the middle of the protractor (the
point that would be the center of the circle made by putting two identical
protractors next to each other).
A mount for the glass rod. This can be done any number of ways. I drilled
horizontal holes in my mount that now hold 4 zip-ties that hold the glass rod
securely in place.
A mount for the sensor-diode. Just bolt the sensor on if you have the kind I
have. Alternatively, you could just use an LED -- it will act as a tiny solar cell.
A mount for the magnet steel "C." My steel piece from the transformer came
with holes in the corners, so I just nailed it on. It is important that this mount can
slide on slots in the pegboard so that you can vary the magnetic field and view
the Faraday effect.
A mount for the laser. This may be wood, but for my 473 nm 5 mW lab laser I
used aluminum tubing to make spacers -- and I just bolted it right on.
A poor-man's optical table out of pegboard and wooden block supports that are
nailed on the bottom. Make sure it is just the size you want it; too big is better
than too small. Hacksaw the pegboard and nail on wooden blocks to the corners
with 2 nails each. I added an extra block later near the glass rod mount to stop
the board from flexing, but wait until you are done with assembly so that you will
not put a nail or a wooden block support where it will get in the way of a bolt.
A wooden box for the laser power supply. This entails connecting the two
"interlock" wires as well as electrical-taping exposed metal and bare wires that
carry 120V AC. Polycarbonate is best for making a clear top for the box. Use
wood screws to attach the sides of the box; remember to drill pilot holes the size
of the screw shank to prevent the wood from splitting.
2) Attaching components to their mounts:
Hacksaw a slot in the mount for the first linear polarizer; hot glue it in.
Hacksaw a slot in the mount for the second linear polarizer; hot glue in the
protractor and push-tack on the second linear polarizer; make sure that
everything is lined up well. Clamp/hold until glue dries/hardens.
Wait to zip-tie on or otherwise attach the glass rod; it is expensive and easily
damaged, so wait until the entire device is assembled.
Bolt on the sensor to the wooden mount. If you are using an LED, you can drill
a hole through the mount and hot glue the LED in the back of the hole (from the
back of the mount).
Put the laser bolts through the laser and through the spacers. It is necessary to
use a tin-snips to modify a washer to fit that close to the laser module body.
Cut aluminum tubing spacers for bolts that will friction-hold the laser power
supply box onto the pegboard.
Step 6: Assembly
General Tips/Suggestions:
Never tighten one bolt on a mount all the the way before tightening the other at
all. Instead, tighten them each bit by bit, simultaneously.
Keep things loosened until you are sure that they need to be exactly where they
are.
Don't attach the expensive glass rod until the very end; this will really help
protect it from being broken.
Be very careful when adjusting the magnets on the sliding slots; if you leave the
magnet loose it may smash into the glass rod.
Use wooden-block supports nailed to the bottom of the peg-board to help the
optical system maintain its rigidity.
You may have to slot some things to make them line up just right.
The holes in the peg-board are exactly 1/4", not 1/4"-clearance. You may want
to drill them out so that bolts fit through easily. I did not do this because there are
so many holes.
Use washers on top of wooden mounts and on the bottom of the pegboard.
Join a FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team; this will give you all the skills
you will need to make something with your hands and the necessary tools.
Optical benches cost too much, and optical tables cost way too much.
Therefore, the best option is to rig up your own poor-man's optical table:
horseshoe magnet
temperature of the rotator material -- I'm not sure how I will do this yet. Extreme
temperatures might crack the glass rod.
Measuring the magnet:
In order to vary the magnetic field strength, I am testing the magnets with a Halleffect probe borrowed at Cornell, nearby. I found that the surface field of my
horseshoe magnet is a whopping .57 Tesla. Note that this is the magnetic field
strength perpendicular to both the pole-surfaces and the propagation of the light.
A Hall-effect probe (Gauss probe) has the property that rotating it will measure
the component of the magnetic field in that one direction. (See graph above)
Note that in order to find the average parallel magnetic field at different
distances, it is necessary to use the Trapezoid-rule or Simpson's rule to integrate
the varying magnetic field over the length of the glass rod, and then divide your
total by the entire
length. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SimpsonsRule.html http://mathworld.wolfra
m.com/TrapezoidalRule.html (See graph above)
I used a Trap-rule, measuring on the axis connecting the poles and finding the
average magnetic field; I then moved the Hall-effect probe along the the same
axis connecting the poles, stopping when the probe registered a magnetic field
equal to the average magnetic field (at the same distance from the axis
connecting the poles). Then, I measured every half-centimeter out from that axis
(perpendicular to the axis connecting the poles.) Then I graphed the
approximate average magnetic field strength as a function of distance from the
magnet.(See graph above)
Measuring the Faraday rotation:
Measure the angles of Faraday rotation with the magnet at different distances
from the beam, using the same wavelength of light. Plot your angles against the
magnet distance. (See graph above)
You can then plot the angles of Faraday rotation against the approximate
average magnetic field that you already plotted as a function of distance. The
slope should be the Verdet constant of the glass rod material at the particular
wavelength, times the length of the glass rod in meters. After editing out 3 points
near the edge of the magnetic field approximation, I got 19 radians per Teslameter as my calculated value for the Verdet constant of the glass rod for 650 nm
light. The known value is 23 radians per Tesla-meter for 650 nm light in this
glass rod. My error was only 17.4%. (See graph above)
If you have more than one laser, you can plot the angle of Faraday rotation
against the wavelength of the light -- allowing you to plot the Verdet constant of
the particular material as a function of wavelength. The Verdet constant is also
available from the supplier of the glass rod. I also just found a graph of the
Verdet constant for this material (SF-59 glass) as a function of wavelengths.
(See graph above)
And finally:
Learn about how Faraday rotation works (see the next step). Show your Faraday
rotator to your friends. Donate it to your high school.
This paper has the best simplified classical explanation that I could find:
http://web.mit.edu/8.13/WWW/JLExperiments/JLExp_08.
Explanation of what the paper means:
periodic displacement occurs in opposite directions for right hand and left hand
polarizations, because the periodic electric field is cycling in opposite directions.
This results in the electron being displaced some distance from its equilibrium
position at all times.
However, linearly polarized light would only cause a periodic up/down motion of
the electron on the spring. If one averages the net displacement of the electron
over time, it would be zero. Thus, the electron just periodically gains and loses
energy, with a net change in its energy of zero.
The amplitude of the electrons angular motion (or equivalently, in the case of
linearly polarized light, the displacement from the electrons equilibrium position)
is directly proportional to its energy; the energy is stored in the spring. Thus,
when the electric field of the circularly polarized light wave acts on the electron, it
must either add or subtract (depending on its handedness) from the electron's
energy.
This energy that the electron gains is lost from the light, causing the amplitude of
the light to decrease (or the wave dissolves altogether). Normally, with no
external magnetic field present, the linearly polarized light wave is re-emitted by
the periodically moving electron. The periodically moving electron naturally
creates a self-propagating electromagnetic wave: it creates a periodic electric
field due to its charge and periodic motion, and a transverse periodic magnetic
field due to its charge, velocity, and periodic motion. This causes the "spring" to
return to its original position, the electron to again reach its equilibrium position,
and the electron to lose its previously gained energy. This light wave is identical
to the original right or left handed polarized light wave that first interacted with the
electron.
If there is a magnetic field, the re-emitted wave will be different from the
absorbed wave. Because the affected electron has been given a velocity
perpendicular to the applied magnetic field by the periodic electric field of the
circularly polarized light wave, it experiences a force up that stretches the
"spring" a little bit farther up or down. (Remember that the electron is already
experiencing a circular periodic motion and has an unusually high or low energy
due to the periodic electric field from the circularly polarized light; the "spring" has
already been stretched by the light.) The force on a moving charged particle is
equal to qvB, which is the charge of the particle times the velocity of the particle
times the magnitude of the magnetic field that is perpendicular to the velocity of
the charged particle. This force is what causes the small increase or decrease in
the electron's energy, depending on the direction of the force -- which depends
Summary:
Ultimately, it is the spiraling electric field vectors of the two polarized light
components of the linearly polarized light that give the electrons their velocities in
the zy plane and thus allow the applied external magnetic field to act on the
electrons, causing them to lose slightly different amounts of energy and to thus
re-emit light at slightly different wavelengths. Then, due to the natural dispersion
of the medium, the two circularly polarized waves become out of phase; they
then will add to net a slightly rotated observable linearly polarized wave
component and a small left-over right or left handed circularly polarized
component that cannot pass through the second linear polarizer.