A study of the generalized Faraday effect in several media

The Faraday effect has been investigated in various fields of study since 1 845. In this paper, we provide a unified formulation of the effect for seve ral media. In the classical case, the direction of propagation is parallel to the magnetic field. Here we generalize to any direction of propagation. When describing the state of wave polarization, we find it convenient to us e the complex polarization ratio R plane. On the complex R plane, the chang e of polarization as the wave propagates follows a circle. The resulting po larization loci are illustrated for three different lossless media: a biaxi al medium, a chiral medium, and a magnetoionic medium. Through the analysis of the patterns of these loci, we can visualize the generalized Faraday ef fect on the polarization state diagram and also gain some physical insights into these media in terms of their wave polarization characteristics.