Eur. Phys. J. D 40, 445-452 (2006)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2006-00173-4

P, T violating magneto-electro-optics

¹ Laboratoire Collisions, Agrégats, Réactivité, IRSAMC, CNRS/UPS, 31062 Toulouse, France
² Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Pulsés, CNRS/UPS/INSA, 31432 Toulouse, France

Corresponding author: ^a pinto@irsamc.ups-tlse.fr

Received: 3 March 2006
Revised: 14 June 2006
Published online: 18 July 2006

Abstract

We study linear and bilinear magneto-electro-optical effects due to the propagation of light in centro-symmetric media in the presence of P, T violating interactions and external transverse and longitudinal electric and/or magnetic fields. We show that new magneto-electric optical effects appear. In particular, we show the existence of a Jones birefringence proportional to the square of the transverse field amplitude. All these effects are an unambiguous signature of the P, T violation, and a search for such new phenomena could also provide novel limits on electric dipole moment (EDM) of matter.