Nonlinear Faraday magneto-optic effects in a helically wound optical fiber

Abstract

We thoroughly investigate the Faraday magneto-optical effects in a helically wound nonlinear optical fiber. We find the emergence of an additional rotation angle proportional to the optical intensity, arised from the nonlinear corrections to both the Verdet constant and the fiber torsion. By analyzing an oscillator model describing the electron motions in the fiber medium, we can obtain the third-order susceptibility in the presence of the magnetic field. According to the Maxwell's equations and the minimal coupling principle in the metric expression of the curved space, we derive the propagation equations of light in a helically wound optical fiber. Finally, we have obtained the analytic expressions of Faraday rotation angle for both linearly and elliptically polarized lights, which explicitly indicates an important nonlinear correction on the Faraday rotation angles. Possible experimental observations and some implications of our theoretical findings are discussed.