Abstract
We present a microscopic approach to study electromagnetic wave propagation in media with broken mirror symmetry. We introduce and calculate the transport mean free path associated with the residual polarization of diffuse light in chiral systems. In chiral media subject to an external magnetic field B, all symmetry requirements exist to create a macroscopic “super” light current in the direction of B that persists even in the absence of a spatial photon density gradient. However, we show that such a current is identically zero in our model. We finally show the existence of a linear magnetotransmission in magnetochiral media.
© 2003 Optical Society of America
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