Abstract

We have observed that a light beam that passed through an optically active crystal of Bi₁₂SiO₂₀ and that was then reflected exactly back through it did not recover its initial polarization orientation. The nonreciprocal component of the rotation was of the order of 2 × 10⁻³ of the reciprocal, single-pass rotation. This nonreciprocity is unambiguous evidence of broken reversality of the light–matter interaction process.

© 1996 Optical Society of America

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